A Chance at Love
by SweetestSuicide
Summary: Sachiko had never felt like she could take her heart and soar through the sky. Upon meeting Yumi, unexpectedly, and having Yumi as her personal photographer had changed her life. Now, it all depends on where Sachiko want Yumi to stand in her life.
1. Chapter 1

**[ Chapter 1 ]**

_Popularity._

_Fame._

_Power._

_Money._

All of that didn't matter to her when they were all meaningless. There was nothing for her to try and obtain. If she wanted something, she would get it. If she didn't like something, that object would have been considered as worthless. And if she didn't even bother with a person, that person was non-existence to the world. Since she was born with the Ogasawara name, everyone expected her to be true to her name and perform each duty that had been bestowed upon her. She had never learned to ask for something that wasn't any of importance regarding to the welfare of the family. She had never learned to demand for what she wanted when all the things that she could possibly wanted had been put in the Non-Existence category. Her meaningless engagement was still active but she had pushed the date of the wedding back too many times that her fiancée didn't quite mind. Then again, her fiancée never questioned her actions when they were being directed to the wedding. The raven hair beauty knew that the man that she was going to be married didn't love her. Well, not the kind of love that she would expect from the couple.

No, they weren't a couple. They couldn't even come close to being a couple. Her love for the man that was her fiancée _and_ cousin was by far too different from the love that she was receiving from him. After being rejected by him not shortly after she had became a teenager, she had shut her heart out to anyone that would want to reach it. In fact, she had shut her heart out to all the men and had developed a great distaste towards them. Her cousin wasn't the one to blame. He hadn't done anything but to come out and be honest with her. It was her upbringing that was to blame. It was the Ogasawara women's duty to serve the husband whether the women were happy or not. She had watched her mother served her father with her own innocent eyes. Not only that her father had her mother, but he also had many other mistresses that were just as happy to be his dirty little secrets to public eyes. Not only that her father had them, but her grandfather as well. Marriages in the Ogasawara household weren't out of love. It was purely out of power and money. And even though she hoped that one day she would be able to change that, she knew that that one day wasn't going to come so easily.

"Sachiko-Ojou-sama?"

She heard a soft voice calling her from behind. The Ogasawara only heir turned to face her attendant as the young girl was trying her best to not appear nervous before the beautiful Ogasawara Sachiko. She knew that this girl was new to the estate and new to working for her and even though she could sympathize with the girl, she couldn't exactly empathize when she had never been taught to walk in someone's shoes. She wished that she could try and ease the girl's nervousness, but she knew that even a smile wasn't going to help the girl any. So going by what she was intended to do, Sachiko let out a soft smile that didn't quite reach her eyes as she acknowledged the female attendant with a nod of her head.

"Your transport is ready, Sachiko-Ojou-sama." The girl said timidly with her head slightly bow.

Sachiko walked over to the attendant gracefully and placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder, causing her to look up at her in surprise at the sudden contact. "Thank you." The heiress murmured softly before leaving the attendant slightly stunned at the kindness that she had received from the heiress.

The raven hair beauty made her way out of the house and into the family car that had been assigned to her ever since she had started elementary school. She had attended St Lillian Girl's Academy after elementary school. She had tried her best to be as normal as she could but because of her name, and the formality air around her, it was difficult for most people to approach her. It was some time during her first year in high school that she met Mizuno Youko, the Rosa Chinensis en bouton at that time. She had been entrusted with so many Yumayurikai – a name for the Student Council at Lillian – work from her Onee-sama that she had to terminate all of the lessons and practices that she had to attend because of her name. Her family understood the reason she had to terminate the lessons, and since she had excelled in everything that she had learned, there was no need for her to pick up on the trainings when the Yumayurikai work had lessened. The heiress was able to relax a little bit more and socializing with the Yumayurikai members, even though her Onee-sama's intention was for her to interact more with the students outside of the Roses. When she had become Rosa Chinensis en bouton, her Onee-sama had hinted her that she needed to acknowledge someone as her petite soeur. She had tried to find a girl that the Yumayurikai would need but she couldn't find anyone after Toudou Shimako had gently refused her rosary. Even after she had become the Rosa Chinensis, she couldn't find one girl that had caught her interest. So the title 'Ice Princess' had been stuck to her even after she graduated from high school and entered the Lillian Girl's University.

She had majored in Business and had graduated with a Bachelor degree. She was going to get her Master degree by studying more, but an agent had caught sight of the raven hair beauty and had asked the heiress for her time. Intrigued and curious to what the other woman had to offer, she took the chance and met up with the agent to discuss about her future. The agent had learned from the heiress what she wanted, and she used that to her advantage to ask if the raven hair beauty would like to be an actress as a side career. The question had come out as a surprise for the heiress, and the younger girl had requested the agent to give her a bit of time before she could make her decision. The agent understood and had given the heiress her business card before they departed. Not two months after that she had made her decision and had told her parents about such decision as well. Since she was an adult and had been around the family business for so long during her time studying, her father had given her the permission to pursue her side career to keep her mind at ease. So after accepting the offer, Kisami Aya had been getting phone calls after phone calls after she had promoted the raven hair beauty via magazines. Apparently, Aya didn't know that she had snatched up the only heir to the Ogasawara throne, Ogasawara Sachiko. So when she had received the third call, she was shock to find that she had become the most famous and beautiful Ogasawara woman's manager. Then again, working with Ogasawara Sachiko was refreshing and entertaining than she would have expected from the famous Ice Princess.

"We are here, Sachiko-Ojou-sama." The driver said softly before he exited the car to go over to the heiress' side of the car. The heiress offered a smile of appreciation as she stepped out of the car and looked up at the white building.

It was another day of photoshoot and, according to the raven hair beauty, was one of the most boring shoot. This was just to promote her new role of an upcoming film that she was the main character in. They had already announced the film and when it would be released. This was just the first step of the film and the first step had always been the most boring one for her. Ever since she had taken up that offer to be an actress, she had found herself quite busy and yet enjoying the thing that she loved doing other than the family's obligations. Acting wasn't one of her many things to do, but she had learned to love being in a role that she found challenging, especially the role of being in love. She had played almost all the roles that were asked of her, and none of them was a love role until now. She found this role to be challenging since it would take a great amount of her to muster up any emotions that would convince the viewers to think that the character was really in love.

With a small sigh to herself, the heiress began to walk up to the building and entered the premises. The receptionist saw her and smiled in recognition before she left her post, and directed Sachiko to the studio room. The heiress met up with her agent and the two began to chat while the photographer and the assistants were busy setting up the set. It was Sachiko that had noticed that the photographer wasn't the one she usually been having. This girl was new and there were some things about this brown pigtailed girl that got her to stare at the woman. After several seconds of just looking at her, Sachiko then turned her attention back to Aya and gestured her head towards the new photographer.

"Who is she? And where is Takeshima Tsutako?" The heiress asked softly.

Aya turned to look at the direction that the raven hair girl had gestured toward and smiled gently. "Ah, that's Fukuzawa Yumi. Tsutako-san had been called for another project and she couldn't pass it up. So in her place she had suggested her best friend, Yumi-san, to stand in for her until her project is done."

"Fukuzawa Yumi." Sachiko spoke as if she was practicing saying the name of the girl. In truth, she just wanted to see how the name would roll off of her tongue. And by the small smile that she had on her face, she liked it very much. But since she had to be all business-like, she had to hide her emotion and quickly replaced the smile with a sigh. "I have never heard of her. I hope she knows what she is doing."

Aya reached over to her and patted the back of woman's hand. "She will do fine, I'm sure of it."

It was then one of the assistants approached them and bowed her head respectively at the two of them. "The set is ready." Then she turned to Sachiko and smiled. "Please, come this way. We need to style your hair before the shoot."

Yumi, the new photographer whom was setting up the camera for the shoot, heard one of the assistants said and sighed quietly to herself. It seemed like the assistants didn't want to work with her today or something. She had specifically asked them not to change Sachiko's hairstyle when the woman had entered the studio. Upon seeing the raven hair beauty, she had started to admire the beauty and elegant that the heiress was displaying. Most of all, it was the long, silky raven hair that was flowing so gently behind the heiress' back that got most of her attention. It was then that she had made a decision to not have Sachiko's hair to be changed during the shoot. She had also told the assistants to not change it, and apparently one of them wasn't listening to her. So with a small frown of disapproval, the pigtailed girl had turned around and stared at the assistant that was with Sachiko.

"Ami-san, I thought I have specifically told you that I don't want Ogasawara-sama's hair to be touched." Yumi said with her hands on her waist as her brown orbs bore into the assistant named Ami.

"But…Tsutako-san always wanted Sachiko-sama's hair to be done up, even if it's just a little." Ami quickly responded.

"Tsutako-san is Tsutako-san, the way that she wants her photo to be taken is different from mine. Please, if you are going to go the opposite of what I want, I would doubt that both our client and I would _not_ be happy with the end result." Yumi reasoned with the other girl with a stern tone in her voice. The assistant hesitantly nodded and directed Sachiko up to the set as Yumi turned to face her camera.

'_I could listen to that voice all day.'_ That was Sachiko's first thought as Yumi had spoken up to the assistant. At first she was surprise that Yumi was chiding Ami for not listening to her simple request. She had thought that the girl would agree to her assistant's action because Tsutako had always had her hair done in some sort of way to the glasses girl's satisfaction. Well, since she had Yumi as her photographer until Tsutako's project finishes, she would have to do what Yumi would want her to do. However, when she had been placed in front of the camera, Yumi didn't quite press the trigger to her camera after Sachiko had given her a pose. She had saw Yumi's eyes on her and not only that she didn't feel uncomfortable under the girl's gaze, she was starting to feel like a doll that the pigtailed girl would be dressing up for. Her feeling had never been wrong for her, because Yumi had quickly left her post just to grab a piece of clothing and returned to where Sachiko was standing. It was a yellow scarf that Yumi was holding, and since she didn't want the taller girl to adjust to the scarf in case she wouldn't be happy with the result, Yumi took it to herself to place the scarf around the taller girl's neck and tie it the way she wanted it to look like. When Sachiko had reached up to free her hair from the scarf, Yumi didn't notice that she was _that close_ to the taller girl until she could smell the faint aroma that Sachiko's hair was giving off. It smelled sweet, like a red rose. Yumi found herself addicted to the scent but quickly gone back to her task at hand as she moved toward her camera.

Sachiko had seen the faint blush on the younger girl's face when the latter had retreated to her own post. She had thought that the blush was cute, and on the younger girl's face, was just too adorable. She hid her smile and watched as Yumi angled her camera once more. After Yumi was ready and had asked Sachiko to pose in certain ways, Sachiko did as requested. Even though Yumi were snapping photo after photo, not even one of the photos that she had taken of Sachiko was to her liking. Then again, she had a month to work with the photos that she had of Sachiko before publishing it.

'_At least I would come up with _one_ photo of her that I like. A month isn't that bad, I suppose.'_ The pigtailed girl thought as she straightened up and took a step back from her camera. She looked up at Sachiko and gave the taller girl a polite smile before leaving her camera to stand before the heiress. "Thank you for coming in today, Ogasawara-sama." She said with her head bowed in respect.

"Please, you don't need to be too formal with me, Yumi." Sachiko spoke softly and didn't miss the small gasp of surprise coming from the shorter girl. The heiress couldn't figure out why the girl was surprise when she spoke to her.

Yumi, on the other hand, had only heard the woman's voice from the films that she had seen of her and not really up close and this personal. So when the heiress had spoken her name in such the softest of voice, she couldn't help but gasp in surprise. She wasn't surprise at the fact that the woman had known her name. She was surprise at the fact that Sachiko was speaking to her despite the rumors of her not uttering a word to someone that she had never spoken to. So the pigtailed girl had looked up at the Ice Princess' face and had accidentally looked into the deep pool of sapphire eyes. She noticed something that she couldn't comprehend. And when the beautiful eyes were looking back at her, she felt her cheeks began to burn, indicating that a blush was soon to come if she didn't end her small conversation with Sachiko right now.

"Of course, Sachiko-sama." Yumi said with a small smile. "I will give you the final copy of the photo and the magazine's front cover when they are ready."

Sachiko smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Yumi." And with that she turned to leave while taking off of the scarf that was around her neck. She handed it to one of the assistants and nodded her head at them before exiting the building with Aya in tow.

"I didn't expect you to talk to Yumi-san." Aya stated as they stood waiting for Sachiko's ride to arrive.

"Oh? Why is that?" Sachiko asked in curiosity.

"You never utter a word to anyone that you don't know. It took you a while to say _anything_ to Tsutako-san." Aya responded with a confused look directed at the heiress. "Yet, you spoke to Yumi-san today and it is the first time that you've seen this girl!"

Sachiko gave what Aya had said a thought before sighing. Her manager was right about that. She had barely spoken to anyone that she hadn't met until she was comfortable enough to have them in her presence. Yet, she felt so comfortable _in_ _Yumi's presence_ that it was hard for her not to speak with the shorter girl. She didn't know how the girl had done it, but she was sure that she would very much like to see this girl again. And after realizing that she would like to see Yumi again, she couldn't help but let out a small smile to grace her lips.

Aya stood beside the heiress as she observed the girl closely. It had been two years that she had worked with this woman. The young heiress had always been regarding strangers with just a nod or a smile in acknowledgement, gratitude and appreciation. Her words would only come when she was comfortable with the people that she was working with. She didn't understand how Yumi had got the girl beside her to speak without the heiress giving the younger girl a 'trial', but when she saw the small smile that was slowly reaching into Sachiko's sapphire eyes. Clearly, there was something that was changing in Sachiko. For the first time in two years of knowing the girl, she was beginning to hope that Yumi would be the only girl that could break Sachiko's ice cold demeanor.


	2. Chapter 2

**[ Chapter 2 ]**

Fukuzawa Yumi. It was a common name and barely anyone would know her if it wasn't for her expert in photography. She had to thank a friend for introducing her to the topic because if she didn't know about photography, and how much fun she would be having fun while taking photos, then she would have studied a more serious subject such as Business Management just to help her father and his small company. Both of her parents and brother were supportive when she wanted to further her study in Photography. They had all taken a glimpse of Yumi's work during her high school years, and all of the photos that Yumi had taken were simply breathtaking. Yumi didn't take photos because of the people and scenery around them. The photos that she took were full of life, and none of them were dull. Maybe it was because of her carefree and happy-go-lucky nature that when she took photos, the subjects in her photos would be smiling whether or not they were having a bad day. Well, that was until she met a certain raven hair beauty that proved to be difficult.

Yumi wasn't like the Ogasawara heiress. She didn't go to a private all-girls school. She had never thought of herself to be surrounded by girls. Well, once she had met her best friend, Takeshima Tsutako, she had considered it but it was already too late. Despite the fact that she attended a co-ed school, she still managed to get into Lillian Girl's University. She didn't exactly know why she chose it, maybe it was because she didn't have to leave her parents behind just to study afar. Also, because of this she had met Tsutako, and the latter shared the same amount of interest in photography as her. She also didn't know how it happened but it sort of just clicked when they bumped into each other during their first week of University. Tsutako had showed her a different side of photography, and in return, she showed Tsutako her bubbly side of the subject. It didn't take long for the two of them to become close friends. And there were times that their classmates were envious of their friendship, because they always stood out in class.

During her high school years Yumi had gained many admirers from both genders. She didn't mind about the female admirers since they were more discreet about it. The male admirers, however, caused her such a headache that she didn't know she would ever had. Most of the male population would just leave her love letters, though the rest would confess to her and expect her to return the feelings. At least some respected her feelings and would be more than happy to start out a friendship with her. A couple of them were quite lucky that Yumi started to return their feelings. The relationships, unfortunately for them, never lasted more than three months. Yumi couldn't feel any kind of connection with them after the first month. She did give it another shot by extending those relationships to another two months, but there was still no connection. She didn't regret it though. For her, there was nothing to regret when she hadn't done anything bad.

Yumi had never considered herself to be bisexual. She had never developed any attraction or interest towards any of the girls during her high school years. Even when she was watching TV, she never once found any attraction towards all the beautiful actresses, popstars and supermodels that she had seen. Well, admiration was different than attraction. She admired those beautiful girls on TV, but she wasn't attracted to them. Even when she saw Sachiko on TV she could only admire the beautiful woman, but when she met her in person…Well, that was a different matter. However, to this point she couldn't find any word to describe her feelings towards the raven hair actress. Sure, there was some attraction there but she couldn't will herself to admit that she was attracted to her. She couldn't even admit that she could feel her stomach doing a somersault when she noticed Sachiko walking into the studio room.

"These photos are no good." Yumi sighed as she lay on her stomach with all of the photos that she had taken of Sachiko laying on her bed.

Yumi had moved out of the Fukuzawa Residence, and had rented an apartment for herself. Her parents had understood that she was now a grown woman and needed privacy and space. At least she always came back during the weekend just to stay with them. Well, both her and her brother always came back during the weekend to stay with their parents. They also had a schedule for calling in to check on their parents. They were great children and their parents were blessed just to have them. They never had to worry about her brother that much since he was a man. The only one of the siblings they were worrying about was Yumi. She had never shown any interest in dating after her two relationships during high school. And even though they wanted to cuddle with Yumi's child one day, they were afraid that day would never come.

Yumi sighed again as she tossed another photo over her shoulder. Not only that she was irritated at the photos, she was also irritated at her parents' worries. In her mind she was replaying the conversation that she had with them on the phone two days ago.

"_You and Yuuki don't have to come over this month and the next, Yumi. Your father and I are taking a vacation down to the countryside to visit your grandparents." Yumi's mother, Miki, had said softly through the phone._

"_Do you need me to help with your packing though?" Yumi asked, slightly concerned for her parents health even though they did not look that old._

_Miki chuckled on the other line at her daughter's concern. "No need, Yumi, we are not that old as you make us sound."_

_Yumi blushed lightly as she chuckled in nervousness. "Well then, do you need me for anything before you go?"_

"_Well," Miki said before Yumi heard a sigh emitting from the other line. "Perhaps a son-in-law and a grandchild for me to spoil and cuddle with."_

"_Eh!" Yumi exclaimed in surprise as her eyes widened. Her blush had intensified and if Miki could be there to see it, her face was as red as a tomato from the embarrassment._

"_Oh don't act so surprise," Miki playfully chided the younger girl, adding a light huff at the end. "You know that your father and I are getting older each year."_

"_B-But…w-what about..." Yumi paused, trying to think of a reason before a light bulb appeared above her head. "What about Yuuki?"_

"_Yuuki is a male, Yumi." Miki deadpanned her as Yumi felt like slapping herself in the forehead._

"_No, that's not what I meant mom!" Yumi sighed as she shook her head. "I mean he can get married and give you a grandchild!"_

"_But it won't be the same."_

"_What do you mean it won't be the same?" Yumi asked in confusion._

"_I won't get to take care of you when you're pregnant is what I meant!" Miki puffed._

"_Whoa!" Yumi exclaimed, once again, in surprise._

Yumi could feel the sweat threatening to leave her face as she replayed the conversation again in her head. What was her mother thinking anyway? She was only twenty two! She was still young and the thought of settling down and having a family had never, _ever_, crossed her mind! She couldn't believe that she had to talk about such things with her mother. Then again, knowing her moth she would be hearing more about the whole marriage subject soon enough.

"This is _not_ how I want my Friday to turn out to be." The pigtailed girl groaned as she flopped herself down onto the soft mattress, stuffing her face in it.

The photos weren't good, as she had concluded not so long ago. It was unfortunate for her that Tuesday was the only session she could have with the raven hair beauty. The photoshoots had been done and over with. The photos, however, wasn't done. She knew that she had a lot of time until she'd reach the deadline, but with no acceptable photo of Ogasawara Sachiko she was at a loss. She couldn't possibly call up the Ogasawara heiress and ask for another session. She could only assume that Sachiko was a very busy lady. Not only that the raven hair beauty was an actress, she was the only daughter in the Ogasawara dynasty, the only daughter to the Ogasawara throne. So asking if Sachiko would have any free time was out of the window. She would actually have to find a way to enhance these photos to its acceptable state.

While she was moping over her misfortune, her mobile started to ring and vibrate against the small white glass table at the side of her bed. She groaned softly in disapproval into the mattress before she lifted her head to check the time on the wall clock. It was only five o'clock on a Friday, and last time that she recalled she never received any calls at this time of the day. With another groan when her mobile didn't quit ringing, she pushed herself off of the mattress and stretched her body over to make a grab at her mobile. When she finally got a hold of it, she looked at the caller ID with smile slightly; _Hojo_ _Hibiki _(1). After pressing a button to receive the call, she pressed it into her ear and greeted her friend.

"Hibiki-san! What do I owe you a pleasure of this call?"

A feminine voice giggled from the other end of the phone call before an excited voice could be heard. "I heard that you're not doing anything tonight, just like any other Friday night, so I thought I could ask you to come down to the dancing studio and hang out with us."

"Oh? Is there a special occasion?" Yumi asked.

"No, you just haven't been hanging out with us!" Hibiki said childishly and Yumi could clearly see the pout that her friend had on.

Chuckling in amusement, Yumi nodded her head even though she knew that Hibiki wouldn't be able to see her. "It was only three days! You knew that I received a very important project that Tsutako-san entrusted me with."

Yumi heard a defeated sigh from the other line before the other girl spoke. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, just come down here already!"

"Hai, hai!" Yumi responded with a chuckle before she hung up the phone.

She placed her phone back on the small table before she turned around to inspect her room. Well, it wasn't messy except for the photos of Ogasawara Sachiko lying around on both of her bed and the floor. She started to collect all of the photos off of her bed and the floor, and once she got all of them in one neat pile she put them in a folder reserved only for Ogasawara Sachiko and her to look at. Then again, she wasn't sure if the raven hair heiress would be take the time to see the before and after photos.

Yumi just shrugged her shoulders, tossing the matter of the project aside since she had a lot of time to think about it. Right now she needed to get change and meet up with her friends at the old dancing studio. So after stripping off of her photography clothes, Yumi put on her clubbing clothes on that consisted of a white tank top, an overall loose black top, a pair of skinny jeans and a pair of ankle boots. She had already taken off her beanie and glasses that she had wore for the photoshoot. She also had taken the hair-tie off of the two pigtails, and had fixed her hair until it was just resting on her head. The only accessories that she had on were a thin black leather waist belt, a white marble stone necklace and a pair of white studded earrings. After checking herself in the mirror one last time, she smiled to herself before grabbing her mobile, car keys and exited the apartment.

When she arrived to the old dancing studio, Yumi noticed that all of her dancing friends were there. The girls; _Hojo Hibiki and Minamino_ _Kanade _(1), the boys; her brother Fukuzawa Yuuki, _Kouno Toru_ (2)_ and Shihoudani Yuujiro _(2). If they really wanted to, they could make their little dancing group into an international dancing group. However, since they weren't seeking for fame or money, they were happy to just hang out and create dance moves whenever their muse hit them.

"Oh look who's here ~" Hibiki said cheerfully as she jumped off of the arm of the sofa and made her way over to Yumi. "Welcome back, Miss Yumi." She said playfully as she enveloped Yumi in a friendly hug. The friendly hug then turned into an air-threatening hug as she began to squeeze the life out of Yumi.

"H-Hibiki-s-san! C-Cant b-b-breathe!" Yumi yelped as she struggled to get away from the brunette's strong grip.

"Hibiki." A softer and more feminine voice called out. Judging by the disapproving and icy cold tone of the voice, the owner wasn't quite happy.

Hibiki halted her action before she loosened her grip around Yumi, eventually letting the shorter girl go. She then turned to look at her best friend, comrade, partner, and girlfriend. Just by the look of the other girl as she sat on the sofa with her arms crossed, and a frown upon her forehead that the brunette knew she was in big trouble.

"Y-Yes, K-Kanade?"

The dirty blonde hair girl finally opened her eyes as the deep emerald eyes instantly shot a glare over at the tall brunette. "What have I told you about taking Yumi's breathe away, literally?"

Yumi giggled as she watched as the two pairs seemed to have engaged themselves in an argument. She had gotten used to it already. In fact, she had gotten used to Hibiki's _death embrace_ as she'd like to call it. She had also gotten used to Kanade's way of showing that she was concern about Yumi's condition when Hibiki had hugged her, and the blonde's way of…well, picking an argument with her brunette girlfriend.

"Yu-mi-chan ~" A soft masculine voice called out.

When Yumi looked over at the direction of the voice, she beamed. Shihoudani Yuujiro was a very attractive man. With his long, silky dirty blonde hair and a slender, masculine body, Yuujiro was by far the prettiest man that she had seen. Wait, did she think he was pretty, again? Yumi let out a low giggle in her hand before she skipped over to where Yuujiro was standing with his arms spread open. Once she got into Yuujiro's warm embrace, she could hear a whine from another male from no other than Kouno Toru.

"No fair! I want to hug Yumi-chan too!"

And with that said from the short blue hair man, she felt another pair of arms enveloped her in a hug from behind. Yes, Yumi was literally _sandwiched_ between two pretty attractive young men go by the name of Yuujiro and Toru.

"She's my sister you know." A deep, masculine voice made itself known. This time, it was her brother Yuuki and she couldn't help but chuckle.

Yumi turned her head to the side and smiled playfully at her brother. Her eyes, too, were twinkling in playfulness. "Oh, you know you can join in, Yuuki."

Yuuki folded his arms and rolled his eyes at her. "No thank you, dear sister."

Yumi, Yuujiro and Toru seemed to be whispering something to each other before the two young men let go off of Yumi. They then both turned to Yuuki with a mischievous smirk. The poor boy began to back away after he unfolded his arms. The expression on his face was too priceless for Yumi to see as she began to giggle.

"We will give you some loving too, Yuu-ki-kun ~" Yuujiro said in a sing-song voice before both he and Toru pounced on Yuuki. If Yuuki hadn't stopped himself from falling, he would be finding himself in a very embarrassing situation with both of the already grown males on top of him.

Yumi couldn't hold in her laughter anymore as she let it out, laughing freely as she watched the discomfort in her little brother's face. Her laughter was soon joined in by both Kanade and Hibiki as the latter were doubling over with laughter on the floor. The laughter died down after Yuujiro and Toru detached themselves from Yuuki and ruffled his hair playfully.

"You know it has been three days that we haven't heard Yumi-chan sing." Hibiki said as she looked over to Yumi with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I want to listen to her sing and dance to our new song and routine!"

"Eh!" Was all that Yumi could get out of after hearing Hibiki's declaration.

"Hit it up boys!" Hibiki called out and before long, the studio was blasting with music. She then turned to Yumi and winked. "Follow me."

Yumi could only stand and watch as the group started to stand in their positions. Soon enough, they were dancing to a song that she had only heard of as of today. Hibiki then opened her mouth and she smiled as Hibiki's soft voice rang through the old dancing studio.

_I saw you standing in the dark,_

_And I like your energy,_

_I really knew way from afar,_

_Boy you're distracting me,_

_My heart is racing, body's aching and I'm shaking all because of you ~  
_It's something about you

_Now I'm thinking about who you with,_

'_Cause you got me curious,_

_If you don't closer I'm gonna have a fit_

_Tell me boy what're ya thinking too_

_Gotta know if you feel the same way I do ~_

Talk to me

Yumi watched as the group broke into the chorus, and a rather powerful dance moves as Hibiki continued to sing. She had no doubt that they had already recorded the song, and she also had no doubt that the song had been put on the internet for downloading, _and_ for club remixes.

_I can be your lady,_

_You can be my baby,_

_So don't keep me waiting,_

I wanna be touched, I wanna be touched,

I wanna be touched, I wanna be touched,

'_Cause I got this problem,_

_But only you can solve it,_

_So you gotta come to me,_

Yumi smiled as her body started to react to the song. It wasn't long that she got the moves memorized but she would need a little bit more time to memorize the lyric of the song. After a couple more minutes, the song finished and her friends were standing there with proud smiles on their faces. Yumi began to clap her hands as she cheered for them.

"Well, do you think you can join us now?" Hibiki asked with a grin even though she was a little out of breath.

Yumi returned the grin with an enthusiastic nod.

The music started up once more and the tall brunette understood that Yumi hadn't gotten down the lyric, but she was grinning proudly when Yumi had gotten down the steps. It was certainly no fun without Yumi there dancing with them for the past three days. However, they didn't doubt for a second that Yumi wouldn't be able to learn the steps from just one look. After all, it was Yumi that had gotten all of them together.

* * *

(1) – Hojo Hibiki and Minamino Kanade are from Suite PreCure! anime.

(2) – Shihoudani Yuujiro and Kouno Toru are from Princess Princess anime.

_Author Notes – _I can't be bothered thinking of new names/characters for the dancing crew so I just kidnapped these four, teehee.


	3. Chapter 3

**[ Chapter 3 ]**

No matter what she had been doing Sachiko couldn't escape her duty as the Ogasawara heiress. There were times that her title had exhausted her to the point that she had thought she had fallen ill. Despite the fact that she could take on the family's business right about now, her father, Ogasawara Tooru, couldn't hand over the family's business to her when she was still young. And, well, hadn't married her cousin, Kashiwagi Suguru. Sachiko knew of her duties as the only heir of the Ogasawara, but those duties always weighed her down from doing the only thing that she seemed to enjoy the most; _acting_. It also wasn't like the raven hair heiress was avoiding her duties as well. As the daughter of the Ogasawara clan, she had to attend to all of those business meetings when her father was exhausted to do so. And the times that she had to attend those meetings...boy, they were a lot.

Sachiko was sitting in the Ogasawara Corporation's fifth meeting of the day. It was only Friday, several hours away from the weekend, and yet she had already planned to have a very long sleep tomorrow. She had started attending the meeting at eight in the morning. At least she had fifteen minutes break in between the meetings, and an hour lunch before she had to attend to the next meeting. At least after this meeting she would have a fifteen minutes break, although the break was only for her to travel to the next location of another meeting. On top of these meetings she had to write a report for her father, and the reports had to be done by Monday's night.

The heiress sighed as she leaned back against the backseat of the black sedan. Fifteen minutes wasn't enough for her to relax her mind, at all. She wished that she could at least have half an hour of break so she could free her mind from the mind numbling experience in the many boring meetings. And one being a lady that she was born as, she suppressed her groan as she lifted her hand to massage her head. At least she had gotten used to the non-stop meetings. It was just the many reports that she had to do after that she was threading.

Her mobile phone then started to ring within her jacket's pocket, and she had to flinch at the irritating sound it was making. Reaching inside her pocket, she pulled out her phone and, once again, suppressed a groan. The ID read _Satou Sei_ and she had no time to talk to her older friend, even if that friend was just a year older than her. Sachiko then stared at the phone, hoping that her friend would just give up on reaching her. Unfortunately for her, the phone kept on ringing and she sighed. She flipped her phone open and pressed the ANSWER button, before pressing it lightly against her ear.

"Good afternoon, Sei-sama." Sachiko greeted as gently as she could into the phone. She heard a chuckle from the other line before the older girl started to speak in a rather cheerful voice. Too cheerful for Sachiko at this moment.

"Hello, Sachiko ~ !"

Suppressing a sigh, Sachiko spoke again but she didn't miss the fact that her eyes were twitching in irritation. "What can I do for you, Sei-sama?"

"Hmmm well," Sei said thoughtfully on the phone and Sachiko could hear the grin in her tone. "Are you free tonight?"

"No, fortunately," Sachiko responded, trying to sound as cheerful as she could but failed due to the fact that she wasn't looking forward to writing the reports. "I have reports to write up."

"Boo!" Sei exclaimed on the other line. "It's Friday night, Sachiko! Have some fun!"

Sachiko resisted the urge to roll her eyes, knowing that the older girl wouldn't be able to see her. "I do have fun, Sei-sama."

"Oh?" Sei asked and Sachiko could tell that the latter was raising an eyebrow at her, indirectly. "And what kind of fun is that, Sachiko?" The blonde said teasingly.

"Acting." Sachiko said nonchalantly, not realizing that she had fallen into Sei's trap.

"Acting is your side job, Sachiko. That's not fun. Remember all of those retakes on the kissing scenes? Your lips on a man's lips? His hands –"

"I get it!" Sachiko quickly exclaimed on the phone, successfully interrupting Sei on the other line. Really, she wondered where her Onee-sama was. At least Youko should put a leash on Sei or something. She wasn't _that_ happy that Sei was running wild and teasing her at every chance that the woman could get.

Sachiko could hear the laughter from the other end, and when she sighed, the laughter only increased. Her brows started to twitch in annoyance as she waited for the older woman to finish with her laughing. With was a good minute before the blonde stopped, and once again she suppressed the urge to groan when Sei spoke up again, and with a '_I won't take no as an answer_' tone.

"You're coming out with me tonight."

"Where?" Sachiko asked, knowing that if she refused she wouldn't hear the end of it.

"Somewhere." Sei answered indifferently.

"And where is this 'somewhere', exactly?" Sachiko asked as she could feel that her patience was running thin.

"Oh, you know, _somewhere_." Sei responded playfully.

Before Sachiko could respond, the driver interrupted her and she was thankful of the interruption, even though she almost killed the guy with her deathly glare. Well, if her deathly glare could kill him.

"My apologies, Sachiko-Ojou-sama, but we are here."

"Sei-sama, I have to go." Sachiko spoke softly as she climbed out of the car after her driver had opened the door for her. There were several flashes of lights and she knew that the paparazzi were doing their jobs.

"Alright, I'll come pick you up at 10PM." Sei stated.

"What?!" Sachiko exclaimed once more but Sei had long ended the conversation. She held a growl inside as she shut the mobile shut and put it back inside her pocket.

'_This is not good. What am I going to do?'_ Sachiko thought as she mentally slapped herself in the head. She checked her wrist watch and noted that she had six more hours until the time Sei had to pick her up. At least she could relax after this meeting. Well, maybe not.

"The meeting will start in five minutes, Sachiko-sama." The secretary said after bowing to Sachiko as a greeting.

In response, Sachiko nodded her head with a small smile to the secretary. Then she moved into the big meeting room before the doors shut closed behind her. She kept her back straight as she made her way over to the CEO chair. All of the members around the room had taken a stand and were watching her attentively. Once Sachiko had taken a seat, they all followed suit and silent engulfed the room. Five minutes seemed to be moving so slow and she didn't quite like it. If she wasn't mistaken, this meeting would last at least an hour or so, depending on how fast they would be able to work with one another. She checked her wrist watch once move and smiled inwardly when she didn't have to wait any longer. She placed both of her clasped hands on the table as she looked at the members, only stopping at each one of them to offer a welcoming smile.

"Let's start the meeting, shall we gentlemen?" She said in a professional tone. The men around her smiled and gave her a nod before the meeting began. Sachiko sighed quietly to herself as she listened to their reports about the market, and the obstacles that needed to be cleared. Now that she had only heard a quarter of the reports, she knew that this meeting would probably last more than an hour.

Finally, the meeting was over and she had a lot of notes to start the six reports of each meeting for her father. She felt like she was overworking herself to the bones. With her acting job and this, she didn't know how she managed to always drag herself out of bed every morning. At least acting wasn't all that hard for her when she could memorize her lines very easily. Also the fact that she could always challenge herself to be in a role when she wasn't comfortable to be in always made her smile at the end result. Unfortunately, she couldn't do that with a job that she was born to do, not something she would _want_ to do. She had no other choice to accept her fate, after all. At least her fate wasn't that cruel to her and tried to hurry the time to marry her off to Suguru. Now that wouldn't only upset her, it would surely ruin her life. She always thought that marriages were between lovers. That was until a certain family of hers ruined that image, of course.

Sachiko finally arrived back at home and without much thinking, she strolled down the hallways and into her room. She shut the door behind her before she walked over to the bathroom. She started up the bath and waited until the tub was filled before walking over to the door, shutting it without locking. She then proceeded to strip off her clothes before sinking herself into the warm water. As expected, the hot water against her skin relaxed her greatly and she couldn't help but slipped a little further down into the water. She let her worry of the reports slipped out of her mind as she relaxed. That was when the Tuesday's photoshoot came into mind and she started to replay the images in her head. The unexpected, yet pleasant, change of her photographer. The sweet, soft and innocent voice that she couldn't stop herself from hearing over and over in her mind whenever she could let herself to do so. The name of the photographer that had been occupying her mind when she would shut her eyes, just as she was doing right now; _Fukuzawa Yumi_. It was then that she began to wonder how a girl like Yumi could affect her so much. Surely, it wasn't because she was attracted to the younger girl, right?

'_She sure is cute though,'_ She thought as a small smile crept onto her lips. However, she quickly diminished the thought when her cheeks flushed. She couldn't believe that she had thought of the girl like that, even though there was nothing to be embarrassed about when she hadn't had any indecent thoughts about the girl. And as soon as she thought that, her blush only deepened when she remembered the blush that had adorned on Yumi's cheeks. Not only that Yumi was just cute, the shorter girl was absolutely adorable when she blushed. Now that the image had made itself present and refused to go away – not like she would want it to – Sachiko could only sunk a little bit more into the water in hope that she would hide the blush, even if there was no one else to see it.

Thankfully the cold water brought her out of her reverie. Sachiko stood up from her tub and climbed out of it. After drying herself and putting on her robe, she took one quick glance over to her wall clock. Her eyes widened after she saw the time; _7:30PM_. How could she have forgotten that she didn't have that much time to prepare when Sei would turn up at her doors? Sure, the blonde would say she would turn up at 10PM, but knowing the woman she would doubt it. With a slight disapproval groan, she moved over to her closet and started to pick out the clothes that were most appropriate to her. Well, that was until she saw the flashing light of her mobile to indicate that she had received a text message. When she opened the message, a deep disapproving groan escaped her lips.

"_Remember to wear something that you can move your body freely to." – _Satou Sei.

Not only that she disapproved of this message, she was also confused to what kind of clothing Sei wanted her to wear. So after a few minutes of pondering, she decided to go with the casual clothes that consisted of a white tank top, a warm pink sweater, and a red checkered skirt. Since she wasn't sure where Sei would be taking her, she decided to pick a pair of white sneakers to wear when she'd leave the house. After she was set, she sighed to herself before leaving the room. She still needed dinner after all, and since she knew that her family had already eaten dinner, it would be she would be eating dinner alone. The thought didn't bother her much though, not when she could have a little more moment of peace until Sei would arrive. Now, wasn't it the time for Youko to step in and claim her rights to her puppy?

The house attendants quickly laid out the meal for her once she had made herself present in the dining room. She didn't have to wait for long for the food to arrive when she had seated at her chair. She ate her food in silent as she tried her best to not lose her appetite by thinking about the reports she had to do. In fact, her mind drifted off to Yumi once more. The Tuesday's session was surely too short. Plus, she knew that she only had one session with the photographer, so there was no chance for her to meet with the pigtailed girl again. Just the thought almost got her to lose her appetite, but she couldn't have that now. Sei was going to pick her up soon enough so she had to fill up her energy to at least keep up with the upbeat and outgoing woman. Then she wondered how her Onee-sama could put up with such an old man that was most definitely trapped in a young woman's body.

After her meal she settled down in the lounge with a teacup in hand. She sipped at the tea while her eyes scanned the Entertainment magazine. She flipped through the pages before something caught her interest. There, on the headline, was no other than herself and two other actors that had announced their new movie. The title of the movie had made it clear that there would be a love triangle, and that she would be in the spotlight once more. She was playing the main character that had fallen in love with two people, yet couldn't choose which one she wanted to be with. Of course when she had read the script she was surprised that the character she was playing would be bisexual. After all, she had never received a role such as this, so this was quite new to her.

'_Come to think of it, this will be interesting,' _She thought as she chuckled to herself, thoroughly amused at the fact that she would be playing a woman that was in love with another woman and a man. If this was herself in real life, however, she didn't think twice about who she was going to choose. Of course, she would choose the woman.

'_Wait...Since when did I think that I would choose a woman to love over a man? That is rather improper!'_ She mentally berated herself as a frown made its way to her face. _'Didn't I think about Yumi earlier and wasn't the least bit repulse by the idea?'_ She thought again before she started to ponder around the subject. Why was it when it came to Yumi, she didn't care whether it was improper or not to have _that kind_ of relationship with her? And yet, when it came to other women, she found it rather improper to be in that kind of relationship with them?

Sachiko set her teacup and magazine down before rubbing her forehead with her fingers once more. She was confused. She was frustrated. And she was downright tired. She didn't know if going out with Sei tonight would be a good idea or not. Perhaps she should give the other girl a call and cancel their little friendly outing. Then again, she would owe Sei something that she knew the older girl would take advantage of. She just couldn't get out of this, couldn't she?

"Sachiko-Ojou-sama, Sei-sama is at the door." A maid said, bringing Sachiko back into reality.

Sachiko was actually startled by the appearance of the maid. Yes, she appeared out of nowhere only because she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. Fortunately, she had hid her surprise exceptionally well when she looked up at her maid with a small smile.

"Thank you. Please tell her that I will be out shortly."

The maid nodded and walked off. Sachiko just shook her head when she took another glance at the time. Sei was awfully early. Well, an hour early but that was to be expected. The blonde just couldn't wait to start on her fun.

Sei didn't tell her where she was taking her all the way to their destination. Sachiko had stopped asking about it after ten minutes of not getting the answer that she wanted, so she sat in her seat with a frown on her face. That frown had quickly dissipated when bright flashing light was slowly moving before her eyes. It was then that she noticed that Sei had the biggest smile on her face, and she couldn't help but wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Sei was her only means of transportation and she couldn't wait in the dark _or_ inside for her ride to arrive. After all, if she had to wait she knew she would get bombarded with fans.

"Sei-sama...do you think that this is a good idea?" Sachiko asked with uncertainty in her tone.

"Of course! This will be fun! Don't worry, these people won't bother you that much." Sei flashed her a smile of reassurance. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work.

"Okay..." Sachiko responded, once again with uncertainty in her voice.

The pair walked into the club and Sei was already feeling like dancing as soon as the music hit her ears. She was unaware of the nervous woman beside her, and even though she was aware she would just written it off as _'She will handle it'_. So without much thought, the blonde woman grabbed the raven hair heiress and dragged her into the dance floor. They were there to have fun, that was all. The club was purely created for dancing and letting your body loose. It was also a place to forget about the stress and just...have fun. That was what Sachiko had told herself.

While Sei danced, Sachiko was standing there with her body moving only a little while her sapphire eyes scanning the crowd. When her eyes set onto the crowd that seemed to be cheering onto something, or someone, she couldn't help but be curious about it. No, curious wasn't it. There was something that was pulling her toward the area, and she had let that force pull her without struggling against it.

There, on the dance floor, dancing with a very attractive blue hair male, was a brunette that she knew she had seen from somewhere. The brunette was dancing so freely yet sensually with the male that it had made her demeanor to be very alluring. She was captivated by the brunette's sensual body that she didn't notice she was moving closer to her. It was then that she had unconsciously bumped into someone, and if she didn't react quick enough that she would have fallen on her bottom of that moment. Unfortunately, when the person had looked up in order to apologize to her, his eyes had widened in recognition of who she was. Then, just like any other fan should do, he shouted her name.

"Ogasawara! It's Ogasawara Sachiko-sama!" He shouted excitedly as he grabbed out his phone. "Please take a photo with me! Please!"

Sachiko began to back away from him then her eyes widened in shock and fear when everyone had stopped dancing and was focusing at her. Where was Sei when she needed her? In fact, she couldn't even see the woman anywhere! Did the crowd swallow Sei? She sure hoped not! But where was she anyway when she urgently needed help? There were flashes everywhere and she could feel her breathing becoming weaker. She knew that she couldn't handle the crowd too well if they were all polluting all over her like this. If she didn't escape soon, she'd surely faint for sure. _'Oh, Maria-sama, please save me!'_

As if her prayer had been received and granted, three males appeared right before her and started posing as if they were famous themselves. She was puzzled at the sudden movement, and the puzzlement only increased when she felt a warm hand grabbed hers. She turned to meet the warm brown eyes of the hand's owner. Before she could do or say anything, she was being pulled away from the crowd and into the back of the club. Well, at least she was going to go out of the club in one piece. However, what was this feeling that she was getting from this stranger?


	4. Chapter 4

**[ Chapter 4 ]**

Fun.

That was why she was at the club for.

_Fun._

Yumi had been busy with her thoughts about the photos and Sachiko's approval of it that she didn't quite have the time to enjoy herself. It wasn't like she would attend the club every single night. She always had other means to have fun before the weekend would start anyway. And that always involved her friends. However, in the past three days she had been locked inside her house to not notice that she wasn't paying attention to them. After all, the project that she had received from her best friend, Tsutako, was too important to not take it seriously. Well she always took all of her projects serious, but this one seemed to be more important than the rest.

Yumi and her friends and brother decided to stop with their dancing and single to go for dinner. They were goofing around as usual when they finished their meals. Yumi did have a lot of fun laughing and throwing playful comments at her friends and brother. Moreover, she was the one person that was at the receiving end of the playful banter. She knew that her expressions always gave her away, and that her expressions were worse than her brother's. So even if she looked over at her brother to help her, he couldn't do anything when he was getting the same comments that got him to be quite uncomfortable with. Apparently Yumi hadn't been contacting with her brother much, because if she did then she would know that her brother had his eyes on a girl.

"So, I'm your sister, shouldn't you be telling me about her?" Yumi prodded gently as she looked at her flustered younger brother.

"Well...I...I haven't even told mom and dad." Yuuki responded as he glanced at anything but his sister and their friends.

"Oh?" Yumi raised an eyebrow as she leaned forward on the table. "What does this have to do with them?" Then she feigned a painful expression as she leaned back, shaking her head before a pout appeared on her lips. "I tell you everything and you're keeping a secret from me! It hurts, Yuuki!"

Yuuki groaned in frustration as he resisted the urge to burrow his face into his palms. "Onee-chan!"

The table burst into fits of laughter at Yuuki's exclamation. Yumi was the first one to calm down and she stood up from her seat, then walked over to Yuuki's side of the table before poking him lightly in his shoulder.

"So who is she, Yuuki?" She asked curiously with a grin.

"She's...um..."

"Do I know this girl?" Yumi asked before she lifted her head to face the crew. When they beamed at her, her grin only widened. "Do _we_ know this girl?"

"Well, she's an actress." Yuuki answered shyly as he started to fidget with his fingers.

"An actress, you say." Yumi commented thoughtfully as she lifted a finger to scratch at her chin. "It's not Ogasawara Sachiko, isn't it? Because as you must know, I think she'd skin you alive before you can even get _that_ close to her."

The table, except Yuuki, burst into fits of laughter once again. Yuuki, on the other hand, was pouting in his seat because his older sister was teasing him. He knew that he was just a businessman, well one of the top businessmen since he was looking after the Fukuzawa Corporation. The company wasn't that powerful or wealthy, but it was enough to make itself known in several regions of Japan. Since he was only taking over the CEO position until his father returned, he was invited to a formal reception from the Ogasawara clan. Thanks to that he had met the girl of his dream even though they had only talked to each other during that night. Also, thanks to the talk, he learned that she was the cousin of the famous and well talked actress, and also heiress of the Ogasawara clan, Ogasawara Sachiko. He remembered that he had spent half of his night talking to the drill pigtailed girl, and the other half conversing with other businessmen and most importantly, the head of the Ogasawara clan.

"Yuuki...?" Yumi asked in slight concern when her brother started to space out. She then gently poked at his cheek in hope that the action would bring him back to her. "Yuuki ~"

Yuuki blinked as he came back to reality much to his older sister's hope. He turned to regard Yumi before he remembered what they were talking about. He blushed and even though he tried to hide it by coughing it away, he couldn't. With a sigh he shook his head and looked down at the table. "Her name is Matsudaira Touko."

"Ooh! She's an amazing actress!" Kanade exclaimed with excitement twinkling in her eyes. "How did you meet her?"

"At a party." Yuuki replied.

"Did you take her home afterward?" Yuujiro asked with a mischievous smirk. At his playful question, Yuuki's eyes widened as his head snapped toward his friend.

"What?!" He exclaimed a little too loudly. He paused and blushed when he saw that everyone in the diner was looking at him. Not to mention that he didn't realize that he was standing on his feet. He cleared his throat and silently sat himself back down, ignoring the snickers that were emitting from Toru and Yuujiro.

"You know what, you two," Yuuki started as he turned to look at his two male friends. The two guys weren't fazed by the glare that they were receiving. If possible, they were grinning at him. "You two should _really_ get a girlfriend so I can be free of your teasing."

"But even if we did get a girlfriend, we'd still tease you nevertheless." Toru said with a grin.

"Exactly." Yuujiro added and the two then started to laugh. Yuuki could only groan at his little misfortune as he turned away from them.

"Enough with teasing Yuuki-kun, I don't think he can take it much more." Kanade said with a chuckle as she watched in amusement at the scene before her.

"Yeah even though Yuuki looks so adorable when he blushes but we can't have him blush all the time now, can we?" Hibiki asked rhetorically as she giggled.

"And the diner is going to close soon." Yumi added as she glanced around the diner, noticing that everybody was preparing to leave. In truth, she didn't want to go home yet.

"Well then..." Hibiki said suggestively as she grinned.

And Yumi found herself dancing away in the most famous club in town.

The moment that the brunette stepped into the club, her body was aching for the music that was blaring in the area. She was jumping in the spot as Hibiki dragged her over to where the DJ was mixing the songs. The gang began to dance then, not really care that they were attracting other people to them. Hibiki had paired up with Yuujiro and they were dancing against each other, more like trying to win over the dance floor. Kanade and Yuuki were just having fun, and Yumi and Toru were just being themselves; dancing like they were about to jump each other bones. After quite some time Kanade and Hibiki decided to take a break and went to the bar, while Yuujiro moved over to the dancing Yumi and Toru to join them. Yuuki had found another partner to dance with, and even though the girl wasn't as good as Kanade he was still having fun.

Yumi were laughing as both Toru and Yuujiro pressed up against her only to tickle her before they moved back with playfulness in their dancing eyes. The music then turned into of a more sexy beat and as expected of their bodies, they both changed their playful dance moves into a more seductive and sensual ones. Yumi could tell that she was losing herself in the music but unfortunately something caught her eyes. She thought that she had seen a certain raven head that looked quite familiar to her. She was about to brush the thought aside but the person appeared again, and in the crowd no less. She quickly recognized the person and tried as she might, she couldn't help but let a smile graced her lips. When she looked over to where the raven hair beauty was standing, or rather moving, toward her, Yumi quickly looked away when she was just about to lock eyes with the sapphire ones.

'_What is she doing here? More importantly, why is she coming this way with her eyes on me?'_ Yumi thought as she took another chance to glance over at where the heiress was. She saw the sapphire eyes were looking over her body and she couldn't help but feel a shiver coming on. She suppressed the feeling with a mischievous smirk. _'If she wants a show...'_ The smirk only widened when Yuujiro pressed against her back. She followed the blonde man's lead as she turned and swayed her body in a sensual manner with the latter. Not only that she was having fun dancing with her two guy friends, she was also having fun teasing the heiress somewhat.

"Ogasawara! It's Ogasawara Sachiko-sama!"

Yumi lifted her head over to where she had heard the shout coming from. She arched an eyebrow at the scene where the guy whipped out his mobile phone and started snapping photos of the heiress. She held in her amused chuckle as she turned to her friends. She then grabbed Yuuki and was glad that she finally got the three guys' attention. They looked at her quizzically before she whispered to them to help the famous Ogasawara out. They exchanged looks before nodding in confirmation. When the three guys moved over to the scene, Yumi looked around for her two girl friends but couldn't find them. She guessed that they were busy themselves with shots at the bar, or had gone home early. She shrugged and turned her attention back to the damsel in distress. She giggled as she quickly moved over to the said damsel, feeling like she was the damsel's knight.

Sachiko looked a little terrified as she tried to find a way to escape, and Yumi pitied the taller girl. So when the three males popped up in front of the raven hair actress, Yumi took that chance to grab the girl's hand. Once she had successfully grabbed the girl's attention, she pulled her out to the back of the club. When the back door of the club had been pushed open, Yumi quickly pulled Sachiko out into the night air. That was when they took a small moment to catch their breath. Both of their hearts were beating rapidly in their chests from the thrill of the run.

Yumi turned to look over at Sachiko just to make sure that the heiress was okay. Her brown orbs instantly met the sapphire ones, and she blushed under the latter's gaze. She never thought that the heiress' gaze would be this deep. No, she never thought that the latter's eyes would be this deep. Then she saw the recognition in the sapphire's eyes, and her eyes widened. Could it be that she had been recognized? Wait, what if it was just her imagination? She looked much different with her hair in pigtails and a pair of glasses. So how would the famous Ogasawara Sachiko recognize her?

"Yumi?"

Okay, so she did recognize her.

Yumi smiled sheepishly as she gave Sachiko a small nod. She opened her mouth but was interrupted by loud noises from inside the club. She could only take that as a hint they should get out of here. She tugged at the hand that she was still holding, and was happy that the latter was following her lead. She remembered that she had parked her car not too far from here and that was the destination she was going to. When her car came into view she increased her pace and wasn't disappointed that the taller girl kept up with her effortlessly. Yumi pressed a button in her key to unlock the car and disarm the alarm. When she turned to speak to the heiress, her mouth was quickly shut when she saw the raven hair beauty gazing at the car.

The model of the car was a Honda Fit Sport Hatchback, made in the year of 2011. She had managed to save up quite a lot of money to get this car, her dream car to be exact. Her father had offered to help her but since he had helped her with her tuition, she didn't want to be too greedy for something that she could afford herself. So she had been saving up every penny she had earned to get the car, and into the color that she wanted; sapphire. Now that her choice of color had caught her attention, the heiress' eyes were a pair of sapphire. Upon realizing that her eyes widened but they quickly returned to their normal size when the heiress turned to look at her.

"You have a nice car, Yumi." Sachiko complimented with a gentle smile.

Yumi chuckled nervously as she turned her gaze away from the taller girl. "Umm...thank you." She then took a quick glance behind her before turning her attention back to her companion. "Let's get out of here before they figure out where we are."

Sachiko nodded and hid her blush when Yumi reached over and opened the door for her. She thanked the girl and climbed into the car. When the door was closed after she had gotten herself settled down inside, she took the time of Yumi walking over to her driver side to look around inside the car. The car was very neat, and she felt somewhat free inside this car. She could only ever feel this comfortable in her own car, so it was quite surprising to feel that comfortable feeling again inside Yumi's car.

"Sachiko-sama?" Yumi asked softly and felt a little guilty for startling the other girl. Actually, she didn't know if she had startled the girl or not because the latter didn't make it look like she was startled at all.

Sachiko turned and smiled at the younger girl. "Yes?"

Yumi gazed at the heiress for a while before she returned Sachiko's smile with her own. "Let's take a drive."

Yumi didn't leave any room for Sachiko to object, not like the latter would object anyway. This was what she wanted for the past three days; to see Yumi again. It was by chance that she got to see her new photographer again. It was, also, by chance that she was sitting in the young brunette's car and enjoying herself. Sachiko didn't know where Yumi was taking her but she didn't mind. As long as the younger girl was in her presence, she wouldn't have it any other way.

Yumi lowered her window and put an arm out as the wind blew gently against her locks. She was enjoying the night breeze, and she was also enjoying the happy expression from the girl sitting beside her. She may not know the life that the Ogasawara heiress was living in, but she was glad that the actress was enjoying herself. When Sachiko's phone rang, she looked over as the heiress picked up the phone. Despite the fact that the phone had interrupted the blissful moment that the two were sharing, Sachiko sounded happy nonetheless even if she heard a worried tone coming from the person on the other line. She turned her gaze back on the road before hearing Sachiko sighed.

"Is something the matter?" Yumi asked as she shot the heiress a worried look.

"It's getting late." Sachiko stated. She didn't want this to end even if they had no absolute destination to go to.

Yumi was feeling the same. She was enjoying herself too much in the presence of Sachiko that she didn't notice the time at all. When she glanced at the clock in her car though, it read that it was almost hitting midnight. '_Oh how time flies when you're having fun.'_

Silent befell them. It was uncomfortable and rather awkward, completely different from the atmosphere earlier. It was all because they both refused to leave each other's side. It didn't feel like it was time to leave yet. There was so much to do, yet they couldn't figure out what those activities may be. Fortunately for the both of them, Yumi got struck with an idea. She changed lane and smiled over to the heiress when the latter gave her a questioning look. She wanted to leave a good impression for the raven hair beauty. She definitely didn't want Sachiko to forget her because, let's be honest here, she couldn't even forget the beautiful heiress even if she tried.

Sachiko sat turned her attention back to the road, curious as to where Yumi was taking her and all the while feeling excited. She rarely been surprise by anyone, well pleasantly surprise at the least. She also recalled that she had never been looking forward to a surprise as much as this one. She felt like she was a teenager girl, well she didn't know what a teenage girl would feel like since she had never experience that kind of a teenage life before. At least this was a new feeling, and she embraced it closely to her heart as if she was afraid to lose it.

Yumi finally came into a halt when the car arrived at the destination. The park at night was always quiet, and she sometimes came here with her friends just to enjoy the peace that they needed. Now, she was sharing this place with Sachiko and her heart beat loudly against her ribcage as she looked over at the taller girl.

The engine was shut off, and they were sitting inside the car with neither of them budging. Then quietly Sachiko reached for the door handle and turned it. Yumi's eyes started to dance in excitement and just like that, she opened the door to her driver side and climbed out. She moved over to Sachiko's side, bouncing with each step she made, and was rewarded with a giggle from the taller girl. Yumi once again took Sachiko's hand in hers and led the girl down the path. Yumi was humming happily as she walked side by side with the woman that she had met for the second time that week. Sachiko was happily just following her while relishing in the feeling of the soft hand in hers.

They came into view of a big fountain and Yumi looked over at the heiress, her eyes twinkling with playfulness. The brunette let go off of the latter's hand and ran over to the fountain before jumping onto the edge. She didn't care if she was to slip and fall into the water. She was hoping that maybe Sachiko would be there to save her. Well, even though the hope was there, she couldn't take the risk of going home completely wet. So there she was, balancing herself on the edge with a huge smile on her face.

Sachiko had quickly followed her and was half giggling and half worrying about Yumi's safety. She quietly followed Yumi as her gaze sometimes shifted from the dim lightning of the park and Yumi herself. Yumi had jumped off the edge of the fountain when it was about to lead her in a circle. When Sachiko shifted her gaze back to Yumi, she found her image reflecting within those brown orbs. She thought that it was just the trick of the dim light. Then again, it was pretty dark out, then perhaps it was just her imagination.

"Yumi..."

"Sachiko-sama..."

They both said in unison. They blinked before giggling.

"You first, Sachiko-sama." Yumi said after they had composed themselves once more.

"If you insist," Sachiko said softly with a smile. "Thank you for tonight, Yumi."

Yumi's cheeks warmed up at the gratitude that she was receiving from the beautiful heiress. "It's my pleasure, Sachiko-sama." Then she watched as the raven hair beauty turned to look up at the night sky, a sigh escaping that luscious red lips. "What is the matter?"

"We have to part soon." Sachiko replied sadly.

Yumi pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, biting it lightly before she released it and smiled. "We'll be seeing each other soon, right?"

Sachiko turned to look at the shorter girl, surprised and mildly interested to whatever it was that Yumi seemed to be proposing. She smiled and nodded before her smile turned into a playful smirk. "How do you suppose we get to see each other again?"

Blushing, Yumi started to fidget in her spot as she started to play with her fingers. "Umm...We can...uh...set up a time?"

"Ara, are you trying to ask me on a date?" Sachiko asked teasingly as she watched the girl before her fidgeting some more. Since she couldn't help herself, she let out a chuckle before continuing. "Is that your way of asking a girl out on a date?"

Yumi looked up at Sachiko, a small glare was being directed at the actress and she held it there. "Sachiko-sama!"

Sachiko burst out laughing then, and Yumi relished in the melodic sound that was coming from Sachiko's lips. True, she had heard the heiress laughed on TV but she had never thought that it was like music to her ears. Now that she had heard it for real this time, and it wasn't as if Sachiko was acting at all, it sounded like music to her ears and she wouldn't want it to stop.

"I apologize, Yumi," Sachiko said after wiping away a laughing tear. She was about to tell the other girl she was available in the weekend but stopped when the reports etched into her mind. She gave out a disappointed sigh with a light shake of her head. "Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do during the weekend and the next week. My schedule is very tight lately and I am not sure when I will be available."

Feeling disappointed and sad, Yumi nodded in understanding. "I see, then it's alright."

Seeing the sadness in Yumi's eyes, Sachiko felt like someone had just shot an arrow through her heart and making it bleed, painfully slow. So she took a breath before placing a warm smile on her face. "How about I give you a call when I know I will be free?"

Yumi beamed at her and just like that, they exchanged numbers before they made their way back to Yumi's car. Yumi had insisted she would take Sachiko home, and Sachiko didn't complain at all since she wanted just to spend a little more time with the younger girl. Now that she had the brunette's number, she had a new goal for the week; _finish those damn reports_!


	5. Chapter 5

**[ Chapter 5 ]**

_Two weeks._

It had been two weeks after that faithful night. Thanks to her tight schedule, Sachiko couldn't find any free time to at least talk with the girl that had been occupying her mind every waking moment, and every restless night. Surprisingly it didn't have that much of an effect on her work and duties. She still turned up at her work, acting out the role that she had successfully taken from her cousin Touko without much effort, though the younger girl didn't mind the least bit. She still turned up at every meeting that her father had assigned her to, and he was quite pleased to read all of her reports. Unfortunately, she was still far too young and a little inexperience to fully run the family company. Plus, she hadn't even married the man that he wanted her to marry yet. He could only know that she loved her cousin, Suguru, but that was all. He had never seen her ask for anything except for her acting career. Tooru still remembered the moment that Sachiko had returned to the Ogasawara mansion and had asked for her parents.

"_What is the matter, Sa-chan?" Sachiko's mother, Sayako, asked as she regarded her daughter with worried eyes._

"_Father, Mother, I have something to ask of you." Sachiko said, her gaze locked on him as if his opinion was the only one that mattered to her._

"_You may go on, Sachiko." Tooru said with a nod, giving her a silent permission to carry on._

"_I want to pursue an acting career." Sachiko said after taking a deep breath to calm her nerves down._

_While his wife gasped in surprise, Tooru raised an eyebrow at his daughter. This was the first time that he had witnessed her ask something of them. Well, this wasn't the first time but he surely didn't count the times that she had asked them something when she was little. When Sachiko had entered elementary school, she had changed so much that Tooru was so proud of her. She had become more mature than anyone else of her age. She had never asked for anything that wasn't necessary to have. She had never wanted anything that wasn't for the good of the Ogasawara name. To Tooru, Sachiko was the perfect daughter that he was very proud to have, and he wouldn't trade her for anyone in the world. He had silently promised to himself that if Sachiko wanted something, he would give her anything if she would ask. So now that she had uttered her lips to ask something from them, or rather _him_, he felt like he could shed a tear of joy._

"_If that is what you want, then you can pursue it, Sachiko." Tooru responded with a warm smile. When Sachiko opened her mouth to speak, he held up a hand to stop her, his expression became serious. "However, you will take this only as your hobby because when the time comes, you will devote yourself into the family's business. Did I make myself clear?"_

_Sachiko nodded her head. "Yes, Father."_

Despite everything, he couldn't just leave this business under the hand of anyone outside of his family. Of course, he trusted Suguru and that was why he had arranged a marriage for Sachiko to marry the guy. That was one of the two reasons he did, however. The first was mainly because he thought Suguru would take care of his daughter, and that was all he needed; someone to take care and love his daughter when he couldn't do it himself.

Sachiko was currently on a five minutes break after her recent romance scene. Well, it wasn't much of a romance scene when the characters had barely confessed to one another. And like any other love-struck role she had accepted, she felt uncomfortable to be in the character's shoes solely because she had never fallen in love before. That was what she thought anyway because she couldn't even decipher the feelings that had been raging from deep within her heart. Yes, she couldn't keep a certain brunette out of her head. There was something about the brunette that she couldn't get her fingers on.

"Alright everyone, take your positions!" The Director said, breaking her out of her thoughts.

Sachiko made her way over to where her co-worker, _Komuro Takashi_ (1), was standing. He was playing the role of a man that her character had fallen in love with. He was also playing the role of an art student, someone that didn't have enough income to take care of another person, let alone himself. Yet, she didn't understand why her character had fallen in love with him. She had read the script over and over but she couldn't understand her character's love for the guy. She even felt a tad bit confused about the character's relationship with her best friend. All of these reasons only summed up to tell Sachiko that when it came down to love, she had never really experience it to the fullest.

"Okay, let's start from where Andy is trying to confess to Claire." The Director instructed and watched as his crew instantly followed his instructions.

The scene was quickly acted out as Sachiko found herself to be in the shoes of her character's once more. She rarely made mistakes, and she felt as if she was embarrassing Takashi because he was the only one to make quite a few mistakes. She couldn't figure out if it was his character or it was the fact that she was standing before him. After all, she didn't appear cold toward him while playing the character, so she didn't know why he was trying his best to calm his nerves when she wasn't really biting him, verbally.

They continued to work for another few hours until the Director said that it was enough for the day. Sachiko had changed out of her character's clothes and into the clothes she had come to the studio with. She was walking toward her car when a masculine voice stopped her. She turned and smiled at the owner of the voice, watching as he approached her with a shy smile.

"Sorry for stopping you there, Sachiko." Takashi said as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"It is perfectly fine, Takashi. Is there something I can help you with?" Sachiko asked politely.

"Umm...well..." Takashi began to fidget with his fingers as he shifted on his feet. Sachiko watched in amusement with a small smile on her face.

"Are you nervous, Takashi?" She asked teasingly. She had grown a little fond of the man even though he was only one year her junior. Even so he was a good actor and she had learned quite a few things from him. It was because of that fact that she didn't mind talking to him, whether it was out in public or in private just as this.

Takashi blinked after the question registered in his mind, then he blushed. "No, I'm not!" He quickly denied and his blush deepened when he realized that he was a bit too loud. "I mean...I'm not nervous. Why would you even think that?"

Sachiko chuckled in amusement. "Well then, do you mind telling me what it is that you have stopped me from going home?"

"Oh right," Takashi said sheepishly. "I have an upcoming party this weekend. The purpose of the party is just to relax and befriend with one another. I've invited quite a few of my friends and since I considered you as my friend, I thought I'd invite you." He finished with a hopeful smile.

Sachiko returned the smile in kind. "Thank you, Takashi. I, too, considered you as a friend."

Takashi's smile only widened upon hearing that. "So, would you come? I don't mind if you bring your friends along. The more the merrier!" By then his eyes were dancing with excitement.

"Mm, when is this party and where is it going to take place?"

"This Friday night and it will at my place." Takashi replied as he pulled out a pad and a pen. He quickly scribbled his address down before ripping the page off and handing over it to Sachiko. "You already have my number, so if you can't find the place but in the right neighborhood, just give me a call and I'll come to pick you up."

Sachiko nodded with a small smile. She turned back to her car but her attention was quickly stolen again by the same spiky black hair guy.

"The party will be at 6PM. Don't be late." Takashi said with a playful wink before he turned and walked toward his own car.

On her drive back home, all she could think about was the Friday that was fast approaching her. Fortunately for her she didn't have anything to do on that day. She was glad that once in a while she would have one day to herself, and she usually had to ponder on what exactly she would want to do with it. Takashi had said that she was allowed to bring her friends and that was what she was thinking. The only friends that she had were the members of the Yumayurikai from back in high school. She wondered if any of them would be free this Friday night. It wasn't like she was looking forward to this party. She just didn't want to sit at home all day and end up doing some of the paperwork that she would voluntarily take on out of boredom. So once she arrived and was in her room, she had picked up the phone and dialled the first number that had come to mind.

"Hello?" A soft feminine voice answered.

Sachiko's lips broke out into a smile as she ignored the slight shiver that had ran down her spine upon hearing the female's voice. "Good evening, Yumi."

Silence.

And then...

"Sachiko-sama?" Yumi asked in disbelief then her tone changed into one of excitement. "Good evening, Sachiko-sama! How are you?"

Sachiko chuckled at the excitement in Yumi's voice in amusement. "I am fine. How are you, Yumi?"

"Excellent!" Yumi answered with a small giggle. There was silence as both of the girls didn't know what to say. Unfortunately, Yumi took that silence to think about the project that she had been working out without much success. She then started to panic before she stuttered out a question that she was sure that the other girl would be calling about. "A-Are you calling a-about the p-photos?"

Sachiko blinked before confusion overtook her. "What photos, Yumi?"

"The photoshoot..." Yumi murmured from the other line.

"Oh, those," Sachiko responded softly. "No, I'm not calling about that. I'm calling you for a different matter."

"Oh, is there something I can help you with?"

Without pausing, since she could tell her heart was beating a mile per second at the moment, Sachiko opened her mouth and asked, as calmly as she could without giving herself away. "Are you busy this Friday night?"

"This Friday?" Yumi repeated.

"Yes, this Friday." Sachiko answered as she unconsciously tightened the grip on the phone.

"Let me check my schedule," Yumi said and Sachiko could hear a ruffling sound from the background. "It seems like I am totally free on Friday." Yumi said happily. "Why?"

"My friend invited me to a party and asked if I could bring my friends, so I thought of you." Sachiko said earnestly as she smiled. "I would also be calling the rest of my old friends to see if they are available also. I do not mind if you would want to bring your friends as well."

"Are you sure that my friends and I won't be imposing in your...ermm...friend's party?" Yumi asked worriedly.

"Nonsense," Sachiko responded with a light chuckle. "The more the merrier, or so he said."

Yumi beamed into the phone. "Okay! When and where do you want us to meet you?"

Sachiko pulled out the paper with Takashi's address on it and relayed it to the other girl on the phone. She also told Yumi the time of the party. And even though she wanted to ask if the girl wanted to share a ride with her, she held herself because she didn't want to sound a bit clingy.

"Okay, I will see you there, Sachiko-sama." Yumi said. Sachiko could see a happy smile on the girl's lips.

"Alright," Sachiko responded softly. "Have a pleasant night, Yumi."

After Yumi returned the polite gesture, she hung up the phone before calling the next person. She spent a small amount of time talking to her friends and asking if they were available that night. Fortunately for her, the rest of the Yumayurikai members were more than available. Just like her, they didn't have anything planned out that Friday. She was also happy that she now had something to during that day; spending half of her day with her Onee-sama.

"So, this Takashi-kun," Youko began as she gazed over at the raven hair girl sitting across from her. "Does he have a crush on you?"

Sachiko shot a look at her Onee-sama, not quite knowing if the latter was just teasing her or not. "What are you talking about, Onee-sama? He and I are just friends."

"Just friends?" Youko asked again, her dark chocolate hues swimming in mirth.

Noticing the mischievousness in the older girl's eyes, Sachiko let out a soft sigh. "You're becoming like Sei-sama, Onee-sama."

Youko chuckled. "We do spend a lot of time together."

"And she does not seem to be acting a little more lady-like." Sachiko said, feigning a disappointed sigh.

"Sei is Sei," Youko said with a smile before she started to giggle. "If she was to become a lady like you are, Sachiko, then I think there might be something wrong with the world in which we are living in."

Both girls shared a laugh as they imagined the tall blonde being a proper lady.

"I heard that you disappeared on the last time that you hung out with Sei," Youko said after their laughter had subsided. "Is there anything I must know about?"

"I am not sure whose fault it was but I guess the majority of it was mine. I left Sei-sama's side when I saw someone that I thought I had met," Sachiko began, leaving the part that she felt like there was some force pulling her toward the area where Yumi was dancing at. "Next thing I knew I was being surrounded by everyone. If it wasn't for the three guys that popped up to cover for my escape with my photographer, then I would doubt that I could get out of that place in one piece."

"Your photographer saved you?" Youko asked in little surprise.

"Yes, she did." Sachiko responded with a small smile. There was also a spark in her eyes that she didn't know Youko had noticed.

"What is her name?"

"Fukuzawa Yumi." And as the name rolled off her tongue, her heart skipped a beat. She didn't know what it meant so she just shrugged it off, or tried to.

"And is she going to be at the party tonight?" Youko asked as she watched her petite soeur a little more.

"Yes."

"Well," Youko smiled. "I am looking forward to meet this photographer of yours." _'And I can't wait to see all the interesting things happening between you two,'_ the former Rosa Chinensis mentally added.

That night Sachiko was having trouble picking out an appropriate outfit to attend Takashi's party. She didn't want to turn up too formal, and she was sure that she didn't want to turn up too casual. She sighed before sitting herself down on her bed. She knew that she was acting unreasonably. It wasn't like she was going on a date with Yumi, there would be a lot of people there after all. Once the thought of going on a date with Yumi crossed her mind, she felt her face began to heat up. She didn't know what was going on with her, especially when it came to a certain adorable brunette. Well, maybe adorable wasn't the right word since Yumi had proved to her that the girl could be alluring and sexy at the same time. Sachiko then froze in her place when those two words entered her mind.

'_Alluring and sexy? Did I just think of Yumi like that?'_ She silently asked herself and instead of feeling disgusted of herself, she felt hot as the images of Yumi's body dancing sensually popped up in her mind. She pushed the image away with difficulty as her hands were clenching against the bedsheets. _'I need to get a hold of myself.'_ She mentally berated herself as she stood up and went over her wardrobe once more. It was then that she decided to just be in comfortable clothes, not caring the least bit that her clothes were showing every luscious curve of hers out to the world.

After memorizing Takashi's address, Sachiko walked out of her mansion and toward her car. Once inside, she started up the engine and eased the car out of its parking lot before driving off. She kicked the gear into speed, not minding that she was driving just a tad too fast if there was someone sitting at the passenger side. Then again, she knew that her driving skill was a bit similar to Sei, but she could never find herself to admit it.

Finally she arrived at her destination and looking out from her car, she could see disco lights inside, not to mention the loud music from within. She parked her car on the side street and reached for her mobile. The messages that she had received indicated that her friends had already arrived. She didn't need to read those messages when she heard a soft knock against the window. She turned and was greeted with smiles from her friends. They all stepped away to let her get out of the car, and one by one they gave her a small, friendly hug.

"I apologize for making you wait," Sachiko said as she gave them a sincere bow.

"It's alright, Sachiko-sama." A rather energetic voice voiced out. "We were greatly entertained by your friends. Or should I say...friend's friends." The girl giggled as she turned to regard the small group of friends that were standing around rather nervously behind them.

Sachiko looked at the braided pigtail girl quizzically before moving her eyes to look behind her. Immediately, as if by chance, her eyes met with the warm brown orbs and she smiled. She then moved up to stand between her friends and Yumi's friends before she turned to her friends, smiling softly.

"This is Yumi, a friend of mine that I've met during my photoshoot."

"Ah, your photographer," Youko said as she looked over at the younger girl. "It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Yumi."

Sei chuckled in amusement beside her. "So this is the girl that had managed to slip you out from my care on Friday night huh?"

Sachiko gave the older blonde a stern look. "You left me in the lion's den. You weren't a good 'protector' that night."

Sei grinned sheepishly. "Oops, my bad."

Sachiko resisted the urge to roll her eyes, Yumi tried to hide her blush while the rest of their friends were exchanging amused giggles and smiles. Sachiko then sighed and decided that it was best to introduce her friends to the young brunette.

"Yumi, these are my closest friends from back in high school. We were in the same student council and have not stopped contacting each other when we all graduated," she began and gestured over to where Youko stood. "This is Mizuno Youko, standing next to her is Satou Sei. Standing next to Sei-sama is Toudou Shimako and Nijou Noriko. The next is Torii Eriko, Hasekura Rei and her cousin Shimazu Yoshino."

Yumi nodded and smiled at the girls as her friends did the same. "I'll introduce you all to my crew then." She said, her smile never faltered as she turned to her friends, motioning toward Hibiki first.

"This is Hojo Hibiki and her girlfriend, Minamino Kanade. And these two pretty guys here," She suppressed a giggle as the said men playfully glared at her. "Kouno Toru and Shihoudani Yuujiro." Then she turned to her brother and grinned. "And this right here is my younger brother, Fukuzawa Yuuki."

Sachiko smiled at the young man and gave him a respected bow. "I thought you look familiar, Yuuki. Although, I did not think that you are Yumi's brother."

"Ogasawara-sama," Yuuki began but was interrupted by Sachiko.

"Please, no need to be formal. I have called you by your name, it is only proper for you to do the same." She said softly.

Yuuki blushed lightly and nodded. "Sachiko-sama."

Yumi eyed the two suspiciously with a soft pout. There certainly was something that she was missing but she didn't know what, and because of that she was thoroughly curious to find out. She then tensed when she heard whisperings from behind her, especially when those that were whispering weren't being discreet about it.

"Oooh, suspicious scene ~" Hibiki said with a chuckle but then yelped softly when Kanade had whacked her at the back of her head.

"Have some manners, Hibiki." The dirty blonde chided the girl as the latter rubbed her sore head.

"Yes, I think if we all are staying outside of Komuro-kun's house just a little bit longer, we would look even more suspicious," Spoke the soft angelic voice of no other than Shimako as she giggled softly. "Perhaps we should go in now?"

Everyone nodded and began to move over to the entrance of the house. Sachiko knew that she was going to have to introduce her friends and Yumi's friends to Takashi once they were inside the house. She just hoped that she had remembered all of Yumi's friend's names. She would bring embarrassment to her if she didn't, especially when Yumi was introducing her to the brunette's friends, she was only paying attention to the sound of Yumi's voice and the adorable look that was Yumi's face.

* * *

(1) - Komuro Takashi is from High School of the Dead anime.


	6. Chapter 6

**[ Chapter 6 ]**

God it had been two weeks..._Two long weeks_ of absolutely _no_ _progress_ in her _photos development_! Only two more weeks left and she had to make her decision. This wasn't good. It _was not_ good at all!

Yumi had spent every weekend hour – except when she passed out from sleep deprivation – to choose from the wide range of photos that she had of the Ogasawara heiress. She liked to call herself a workaholic since she couldn't remember the last time she had gotten a good night sleep. Not to mention that her room was a mess. No, scratch that. Her _apartment_ was a _mess_! Anyone that would come into her apartment would think that she just had a war. And if they didn't know her then they would think she had a war with the actress Ogasawara Sachiko because the heiress' photos were all over the place. Yumi wasn't quite sure who to blame for her messy apartment; herself or the raven hair beauty?

The brunette let out a groan of both irritation and frustration as she tossed yet another set of photos. She had made millions of copies of the photos that she had taken of Sachiko two weeks ago, ranging from medium size to a portrait size. She thought that it would help her choose from the ten photos she had taken but it wasn't of any help. She couldn't see the happiness at all in any of the photos. She could only see the cold and stoic look of Sachiko as the older girl posed per her request. Sachiko wasn't having any fun at all in these photos. She wouldn't have minded if the sapphire eyes would twinkle in happiness and her lips in a thin line, but all of the photos were the same; cold and stoic. Even though she had the talent to make the subject in her photos look happy during the photoshoot, Sachiko had proved to be difficult.

"What am I going to do?" Yumi silently asked herself as she placed the photos that she was viewing down on her study table.

It was only a Wednesday night and already she was feeling extremely tired. Well, it was due to the fact that she didn't get a good night sleep last night. Perhaps it was because her apartment was a mess and she just couldn't rest properly. At least she could still walk around, somewhat. She hadn't trip yet, that was for sure.

Yumi sighed tiredly as she stood up from her seat. She turned to take a good look at the disaster that she had created, single-handedly, and cringed at the mess. She had finally taken it all in, and yet she couldn't figure out who was to blame. Deciding that it was best to clear her mind _and_ the place up, the brunette started her cleaning by collecting all of the photos that were lying around the messy apartment. It was a good an hour and a half before she got all of the photos, and already she was completely drained. She would have never thought that collecting photos would exhaust her this badly. Well, during the collection she had to move quite a few heavy things out of the way just to get the photos. As she was about to carry on her next task; picking up the dirty clothes and putting it in the wash, she was interrupted by a phone call. She didn't know whether it was her misfortune that someone would want to distract her while cleaning, or it was her fortune that she needed a break from her work and her messy home. She decided that it was the latter and started to fetch her phone, or rather, try to find her phone.

After half a minute of going through the small pile of photos on her bed, Yumi finally was greeted with the flashing light and the ringtone of her mobile. She quickly grabbed and stared at the strange number on her ID caller. It would probably be...Okay, she couldn't recall the last time she had given her number to a stranger. It wouldn't hurt to answer the phone, and so she decided.

"Hello?" Yumi answered the phone, uncertainty written in her voice but she tried her best to suppress it.

"Good evening, Yumi." A soft, feminine voice answered.

Yumi frozen in place. She recognized that voice. She could recognize it anywhere! But...wait, did Sachiko just call her? If she did then why was she using a number that she had given her? Was she with her manager? Were they discussing about the photos that she was working on? Did they want to see the final project? It had been two weeks after all so they would expect to have _some_ kind of progress. _Oh no..._

"Sachiko-sama...?" She asked, hoping that it wasn't the heiress that she was talking to as to ease the panic that was rising in her. But then she thought that Sachiko would have called for a different reason, and that reason might be her. So she pushed the negative thought away and welcomed the positive one. Her mood changed in .5 seconds as she beamed. "Good evening, Sachiko-sama! How are you?"

She heard a chuckle from the other end and smiled. It was far too long since she heard the heiress laugh. "I am fine. How are you, Yumi?"

Yumi's heart skipped a beat when Sachiko spoke her name in that softest of voice. A small blush started to decorate her cheeks. "Excellent!" She answered with a giggle as if to hide the fact that she was blushing. Then both of them had fallen quiet, and once again she started to panic. Maybe Sachiko wasn't calling her because she missed her, just like she had missed the heiress. Maybe the raven hair beauty was calling her about the photos. There was one way to find out.

So gathering the little courage and strength that she had left, Yumi opened her mouth and started to stutter out the question. "A-Are you calling a-about the p-photos?"

"What photos, Yumi?"

'_Did she forget about it? Or is she testing me?'_

"The photoshoot..."

"Oh, those," _'So she had forgotten about it...'_ "No, I'm not calling about that. I'm calling you for a different matter."

Yumi blinked before she breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh, is there something I can help you with?"

After being directly invited to a party that she clearly didn't know whether she should go or not because of her work, Yumi couldn't believe herself that she had agreed to it without much of an effort. She had to lie to Sachiko that she was free on Friday, only because she wanted to see the other girl so badly. She also hoped that she could have an opportunity to be alone with the other girl to tell her about the project as well. However, would that be wise? If Sachiko knew that she was having trouble with the project, then she might think that she wasn't professional. She would have to use another method...a sneak method to get the photos that she wanted. That was when she decided to turn to her group of friends the next day as they were all hanging out at their usual spot; the old dancing studio.

"Yumi-san, you look like a ghost just chased you all the way from your place to here," Hibiki commented as she observed the shorter brunette worriedly. "Are you sick?"

"Sick of not having one good photo!" Yumi groaned out an answer as she flopped down on the sofa next to Toru. The blue hair guy wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his shoulder as Yumi used it as a pillow.

"Your project?" Kanade asked softly. Yumi nodded. "What's wrong with it?"

"Sachiko-sama doesn't look happy." Yumi replied.

"But she smiled?" Hibiki asked as she picked up one of the photos that Yumi had brought in. "Yea, she did so how can these be bad? She looks gorgeous as always."

"The smile doesn't reach her eyes." Yumi said as she folded her arms across her chest. "I don't like to have a fake photo, if you know what I mean."

"Well I'm not a photographer so I wouldn't know," Hibiki said with a shrug as she put the photo back into its place. "Besides, stop worrying, I can already see a grey hair growing in there."

"What?!" Yumi exclaimed as she bolted upward and dashed over to the mirror stand. When Hibiki was clutching her stomach while laughing at her, she knew that she had just been teased. She turned to face Hibiki with her arms crossed, a frown in place. "That's so mean, Hibiki-san!"

"Anyway, what do you want us to help you with?" Yuujiro asked as he leaned against the back of the sofa. Yumi smiled at him, glad that he could read her. Well, everyone could read her really.

"May I use this place this Friday night?" Yumi asked as she tried to hide the blush that was threatening to come out when she thought about a certain raven hair woman. "There's something I want to do here, and I might be very late too."

"Late?" Toru asked quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"And of course you can use the place." Hibiki said as she dug into her jeans' pocket and pulled out the key. "Here." She tossed the key over to Yumi where the brunette had caught it.

"Sachiko-sama invited me over to a party that is hosted by a friend of hers," Yumi started to explain as both of her friends leaned forward, intrigued by this so called party. Unfortunately her brother wasn't there because of work, but she would call him when he was on break soon anyway. "She said I could bring my friends so I thought I'd ask –"

"Say no more!" Hibiki quickly cut her off. Kanade was bouncing in her spot as she shot Yumi a very excited look. Her emerald eyes shining with excitement also. "We _will_ attend this party!"

"Yes!" Yuujiro suddenly called out as he gently slapped his chest for a dramatic effect. "We will march to this party like it is our own!"

Shortly after that declaration was said, Toru joined in as he jumped up from the sofa. "I will bring the booze!"

Yumi just stared at her four friends, sweat beginning to cover the back of her neck as she looked at them worriedly. No, she wasn't worry that they might get lost on the way there. She was worried that they might wreak havoc in this party that was tomorrow's night. She felt the urge to slap her face, literally, as the both of them started to jump up and down childishly. Then she began to wonder if she and Yuuki were the only sane one in the group. Okay, she and Yuuki were the _only_ sane people in the group.

Yumi had asked Yuuki to pick her up at her place that Friday night since she didn't feel like driving. She had a good reason for that, however. She was hoping to share a ride with Sachiko to the old dancing studio, and possibly a ride back to her place. She had the Friday night all planned out and she was determined to go through it. She prayed to God that if he was listening to her, then he could grant her this one little wish. She only needed the photos of Sachiko after all. Everything else...well, she wanted everything that was to do with Sachiko but she couldn't bring herself to be that greedy.

"You're glowing." Yuuki commented from his driver seat after shifting his gaze back to the road.

"Huh?" Came Yumi's smart reply.

"I said 'You're glowing'." Yuuki repeated with an amused smile.

"Whatever made you say that?" Yumi asked curiously.

"Because you seem really happy, that's all. I've never seen you this happy before." Yuuki replied.

"Oh." Was all that Yumi could say before they fell into a comfortable silent.

When the siblings arrived, they found that their friends were already there along with a bunch of girls that they had never seen. They stepped out of the car after Yuuki had safely parked it, and walked over to the group. Apparently, they were introducing themselves to one another. As they moved closer to the group, Hibiki was the first one to catch sight of them as she began to wave them over.

"Yumi-san! Yuuki!"

The siblings smiled before joining the group.

"Hey guys," Yumi greeted her friends before she turned to the seven women that were standing beside her. "Good evening, ladies."

Yuuki bowed her head towards the girls. "Evening, ladies."

"You know," Yuujiro began as his light brown orbs glanced at the other beautiful females. "I'm starting to like this party even though we haven't stepped inside the place yet."

The females let out a soft giggle at his comment and he grinned, feeling like he had just scored some points.

"Move out of the way, big guy," Toru suddenly said as he pushed Yuujiro from an angelic woman. He then did a gentleman bow before taking the girl's hand in his. "Even in the dark night such as this, your beauty shines like a ray of sunshine."

While the girl blushed as he pressed his lips against his skin, the rest of the girls were giggling at the act while the guys were trying hard not to puke at how lame it was.

"Toru-kun," Yumi said in between giggle. "You're scaring her."

Toru blinked as he looked up at the girl that had caught his eyes. The deep pools of ocean were staring back at him, and it didn't look like his gentleman act didn't faze her. He sighed as he let go off of her hand and straightened himself. "My apologies."

The dark blonde quickly shook her head as she placed her hand back beside her. "It's alright." She said softly with a gentle smile.

Before Toru could use that answer as an advantage to move in on the girl again, Yuuki quickly grabbed a hold of the man's jacket and dragged him away from the women. "Stop troubling her! It's just because she's being kind to you does not mean that she gives you the permission to bother her!"

"You told me to get a girlfriend!" Toru exclaimed as he flailed his arms around.

While the rest of the females giggled once again, Yuujiro took that as his chance to slide back to his previous position. He straightened his color and put on his charming smile as he looked down at the blonde. He then offered his hand out to her, his white teeth glittering in the street light.

"My dear, would you do me the honor of allowing this humble servant to serve you?"

The blonde just stared blankly at him, not knowing what to say. While the rest of the other females were giggling amusingly, Yumi have had enough of her idiotic male friends. She shook her head and sighed, loudly, to get Yuujiro attention. When that failed, Yumi casually walked up to him and before he could even react, she grabbed a hold of his ear and dragged him away much like what her brother had done to Toru.

"I have no idea how I can handle the two of you but honestly, do you have to jump at a girl just because she looks ravishing to you?!" Yumi groaned as she let go off of Yuujiro's ear as the latter fell next to Toru, rubbing his ear with a pout.

"Come on! Even you said she looks ravishing!" Yuujiro whined as Toru nodded his head in agreement.

Yumi rolled her eyes. "Because I'm putting myself in your shoes so I can understand your point of view doesn't mean I think she looks ravishing!"

"You know," Toru said as he peered over Yumi and at the blonde that was talking quietly to a younger girl. "Not only she looks ravishing, she looks absolutely beautiful too!"

Yumi let her fist connected to Toru's head as the latter yelped and started rubbing his sore head. "Honestly, can't you two tell that she's not interested?"

"Hey Yumi-san! The girl of your dream is here!" Hibiki called out with a playful grin.

Yumi brought a hand up to her forehead and lightly slap herself against it. She hoped that she didn't have to babysit her friends. Not like they needed it. They only need their mouths taped because at this rate she could clearly tell that she was going to be teased. Either that or Sachiko's friends would likely be hit on by her male friends. These two scenarios weren't comforting her in any way. With a sigh she turned, just in time to see Sachiko stepping out of the car. She watched as Sachiko made her way towards the other women. She heard the heiress apologizing and then their eyes met. Once again her heart skipped a beat when those deep sapphire eyes met hers.

After the introduction had been made and the beautiful girl that Toru and Yuujiro were hitting on spoke, the group moved over to the entrance with Sachiko leading. Sachiko pressed the button for the house bell and waited, while Yumi hoped that the owner of the house would be able to hear the bell. When the door was opened, she stared up at a good-looking man that looked like he was having a hard time keeping a field of wild horses.

"Sachiko! You're here!" He said, his eyes gleaming with happiness and relief. Then he looked behind her and grinned at the group. "Hi to you all, my name is Takashi," He then straightened himself up and stepped back, gesturing to the group to enter. "Please, come in, come in!"

The group entered the house and was led to a big hang out place. It turned out it was an entertainment room that was big enough to fit four elephants inside! That wasn't what Yumi was amazed about though. She was amazed at the fact that Hibiki and Kanade were already making themselves comfortable. Well, what Yuujiro said the day before surely wasn't wrong. They were acting like they were hosting a party!

She let out an irritated groan as Yuujiro and Toru once again moved to Shimako. She thanked the God that the girl wasn't alone since she was standing with Noriko and Yoshino. When Yumi was about to make a march over to those two males, a soft hand placed itself on her shoulder, stopping her process. She turned to look behind her and was greeted with a warm smile.

"Onee-sama told me everything after I got inside. Try to relax, Shimako knows how to deal with those two. Besides," the heiress paused as she glanced over to where the blonde was standing with an apologetic look. "Yoshino and Noriko are with her. She will be fine."

Yumi sighed and shook her head. "You clearly don't know Yuujiro-kun and Toru-kun," then she paused. _'Onee-sama? What?'_ "Wait, 'Onee-sama'? You have a big sister?"

Sachiko chuckled and shook her head. "Oh, that's Youko-sama. I will tell you everything about my old high school when we both are free."

"Okay..." Yumi answered unsurely. When she opened her mouth again she heard a crash. Well, more like a yell _and _a crash combined. She quickly whipped her head over to the sound and her eyes widened at the scene before her.

There, in all of her glory, Hibiki was holding a wooden sword as she pointed it another raven hair girl. Hibiki's back was straight, and she didn't look like she was going on a defensive or offensive. More like she was challenging the other girl. The other girl's emerald eyes were dancing with excitement as she held onto her own wooden sword. From the look of it she had already accepted the challenge. While the two girls were staring at each other down, Takashi was having a hard time trying to break away from another girl with honey blonde hair.

"Saeko-san! Please! Put it down!" Takashi tried to shout over the music as he struggled with the hold of his capture. "Rei, please, I have to stop them! Please let go!"

The honey blonde hair woman shook her head as she pressed herself more into him. "No ~ We haven't seen each other for a while, Takashi-kun ~"

Takashi sighed and shook his head in defeat. "I hope everyone is having a good time."

"Uh..." Yumi asked as she stood behind the actor. "Are you alright?"

Takashi let out a sigh and before he could answer, the girl named Rei turned to shot a glare at Yumi before turning to face him. "Who is she, Takashi-kun?" She asked coldly.

"S-Sachiko's f-friend." He replied nervously at the look that his girlfriend was giving.

The girl then turned to face Yumi before giving her a nod. "_Miyamoto Rei _(1)_,_ it's nice to meet you."

"Fukuzawa Yumi." Yumi responded and glanced at the slightly pale Takashi. She decided to just leave him be. She didn't want to see the glare that she had received earlier. "Who's the one with...my friend, Hibiki?"

Rei turned her attention to the 'battle'. She raised an eyebrow, impressed that Hibiki was keeping up with Saeko despite the fact that Takashi's possessions were in grave danger. "That's _Busujima Saeko _(1), a year our senior."

"Go Hibiki! My money is on you!" Yuujiro suddenly shouted as he started to cheer her on.

"Go hot-looking-girl-that-can-kick-asses!" Toru shouted, cheering Saeko on.

"I feel bad for having them here." Yumi murmured as a sweat trickled down the side of her face.

"Yumi."

Yumi turned at Sachiko's voice and looked at her quizzically.

"Let's leave these two to have their moment, shall we?" Sachiko asked, not once taking her eyes off of Yumi.

After Yumi took a glance at Takashi and Rei, she quickly turned away with a blush. She nodded her head eagerly and started to walk away, only to have her hand grabbed by a soft hand and soon found herself being led over to where the other girls were. She could see Kanade sipping on her drink, not even taking one glance over at her girlfriend Hibiki. She could also see Yoshino on her seat, hooting at Hibiki as if she was on the girl's side. Yumi felt like she was walking around the battlefield, freely. This battlefield surely surpassed the battlefield back at her apartment. Thank God that she had finished cleaning her apartment up.

"Ah, Sachiko-sama, Yumi-san," Shimako spoke up as she regarded the two with a serene smile. "How are you two enjoying the party so far?"

"Umm...well..." Yumi murmured nervously after taking a seat next to the heiress. Her eyes immediately looked up after hearing a sharp clang of the two swords colliding with each other. She wasn't sure who she was worrying for; Hibiki or Saeko. Then again, she might as well worried about the both of them. "I just hope that they can just stop fighting."

"Oh they're not fighting, Yumi-san," Yoshino quickly spoke up as she turned to look at the brunette with excitement in her dark brown eyes. "It's a duel. They won't get hurt, I'm sure of it."

"Yoshino." The short hair blonde, Rei, sighed as she shook her head.

"What? I'm telling the truth!" Yoshino exclaimed before turning her attention back to the so-called duel.

"Shimako-san," Yumi said and when Shimako looked at her questioningly, she offered the blonde an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about Yuujiro-kun and Toru-kun earlier."

"That's alright. You don't have to worry about it." Shimako said, offering Yumi another of her serene smile.

"Boys are boys," Kanade softly spoke up as she placed her half empty cup on the table. "When they see a beautiful girl, they will try their best to charm her even if they have to act stupid."

Shimako giggled behind her hand as she nodded. "I suppose you're right, Kanade-san."

Trying her best to ignore what was going on in the background, Yumi turned to face Sachiko to find that the heiress was watching her in amusement. Yumi immediately frowned as she folded her arms. "What are you smiling at, Sachiko-sama?"

"Your expression," Sachiko responded softly. "I've never seen anyone with so many expressions before."

Yumi immediately blushed as she looked away, trying to hide her blush in vain. "Uh...right."

The rest of the girls at the table were watching them in amusement except for Yoshino, she was too busy observing the duel between Hibiki and Saeko. She also was too busy cheering Hibiki on and playfully bantering with Toru that was cheering on Saeko.

After a few minutes Yumi turned to look at Sachiko once more, only to find that Sachiko was engaging herself in the conversation that she didn't know about. It sounded like the heiress was catching up on the activities that she had missed with her friends. So Yumi waited until Sachiko was less busy with the chattering before placing her hand on the heiress'. When Sachiko turned to regard her with curiosity in her eyes, Yumi built up her courage before asking.

"C-Can I have a few minutes of q-quiet time to talk to y-you?"

Sachiko stared at her, unblinking. Then she smiled and nodded before turning to the girls occupying the table. "Would you all excuse me and Yumi. We will be back soon."

With that the two girls stood from the table and made their way outside the entertainment. What Sachiko didn't know was that Yumi was trying to find the right word in her head to ask if Sachiko would like to just leave with her. She knew that it was a little rude to leave her friends and brother behind, but it looked like that they were enjoying themselves. She just didn't want to be there when Sachiko's free time was only for tonight. She just wanted to spend some alone time with her, if that wasn't too much to ask.

* * *

(1) – Miyamato Rei and Busujima Saeko are from High School of the Dead anime.

_Author Notes – _There will be no zombies coming out to attack them! Rest assure! XD


	7. Chapter 7

**[ Chapter 7 ]**

_Children._

They were acting like a bunch of _children_.

Sachiko's sapphire eyes watched as she felt her temper was about to explode. Fortunately for her she wasn't the host of the party, so she didn't have to lecture the men that were cheering on the two women that were clashing their wooden swords together. She felt sorry for Takashi, however, that his place had been used for some idiotic game. She was glad that Sei was behaving, maybe it was because Youko was there. However, Yoshino's excitement over the said fight wasn't comforting at all. She should have known that the fight would rile the girl up, but she didn't expect that Yoshino would be joining the two men with their cheering. She definitely didn't even expect that she would be arguing with the man under the name of Toru either! Perhaps this party was a mistake. Perhaps she shouldn't have come here at all. Perhaps...she should just dedicate her whole night with Yumi.

'_What am I thinking?'_ Sachiko caught herself just in time she would have gone further with her improper thought. Of course, this would be their third meeting and yet she felt like a love-sick teenager. Thank the lord that she wasn't acting on her feelings. If she did she wouldn't know where to begin to explain to the friends that were observing her.

After watching the brunette blushed, Sachiko's attention was quickly been pulled away from the younger girl to her colleagues. Sei was the first to ask her ridiculous questions about Yumi, all the while making it sound like she wasn't talking about the brunette at all. Sachiko was already on the edge of snapping at _someone _already, and at that moment Sei seemed to be the perfect victim for her anger. She held it in though and tried her best to answer Sei's question without launching over to the blonde and strangle her. Well, strangling the blonde's neck wasn't something that she would want her friends to see, for she knew that the image would be permanently implanted in their heads.

"Oooh," Eriko mused as she looked at Sachiko, eyes twinkling in amusement. "Now I see why Sachiko didn't choose a petite soeur."

"'_Didn't_' you say?" Youko said, her eyes, too, were twinkling in amusement. "I believe the term should be 'couldn't'."

"After so many years she have finally found one that is worthy of being her petite soeur," Eriko chuckled as she noticed the light shade of pink that was slowly spreading across Sachiko's cheeks. Oh teasing Sachiko was just too much fun and she clearly had missed it.

"It is a damn shame that they are both adults now," Sei said, feigning a sign of disappointment. "They can't act like high schoolers anymore."

While the three older girls and former Roses were chuckling and giggling and teasing her, Sachiko glanced over to Rei, Shimako and Noriko as if she was silently asking for them to help her out. What she didn't expect to see was the amused look in their eyes when they met her gaze. Somehow she knew that they were both happy for her but she wished that they could try to not make her flush in embarrassment. She knew that Yumi couldn't even keep up with the conversation that they were having, but that didn't mean that she wasn't embarrassed by the playful hint.

Sachiko then felt a soft hand being placed on top of hers. Just the contact of the said hand was enough to make her nervous, though she never showed it. There must be something wrong with her because whenever she would touch Yumi, though accidentally or on purpose, she would get the same butterfly feeling in the pit of her stomach. Without realizing what she was doing, Sachiko took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly before turning to look at the young brunette with curious eyes.

"C-Can I have a few minutes of q-quiet time to talk to y-you?"

She watched as the girl blushed and fidgeted with her fingers. She had to hold back a chuckle while thinking that Yumi was truly adorable. Sachiko then turned over to her friends that were giving her amused looks and smiles. She narrowed her eyes at them and they let out a soft giggle. Holding a sigh, she opened her mouth and spoke softly.

"Would you all excuse me and Yumi. We will be back shortly."

Sachiko took Yumi's hand and stood up before leaving the group without waiting for them to respond. She didn't know that she was practically pulling Yumi along with her. All she wanted right at that moment was to get away from her friends. She clearly didn't know how long she could handle their teasing. She was afraid that her tolerance would break and she would snap at them; something that she didn't want Yumi to witness. Yes, even the so proud Ogasawara Sachiko knew that she could be downright scary when provoked.

As Sachiko pulled Yumi toward the door of the room, she couldn't help but take one last glance of what was going on in the room. Well, nothing had changed when she and Yumi were almost at the door. Hibiki and Saeko were still at it and it looked like they were enjoying their little activity a little too much. At least they were trying their best not to destroy anything, but she knew that it wouldn't last long. She could see Yuujiro and Toru running around saving Takashi's furniture. She wondered how long they would be able to keep that up while cheering for their championship. She sighed and shook her head then turned her head toward the door.

"Sorry."

She heard a soft voice as her hand landed on the doorknob. Sachiko blinked, trying to figure out what it was that Yumi was apologizing for before she sighed knowingly.

"It's not your fault. This situation is out of our hands, anyway," Sachiko replied as she turned the knob and opened the door. She walked outside, following by Yumi before she closed the door behind them. "Do you wish to talk out here or do you want to find somewhere more private?"

Yumi shook her head and smiled up at her. "Out here is fine, Sachiko-sama."

Sachiko returned the smile and reluctantly let go off of the shorter girl's hand. Instantly, she missed the warmth from the small hand. She inwardly shake the feeling away but all she was doing was pushing it at the back of her mind. "What do you need to talk to me about, Yumi?" She asked in slight curiosity.

"Umm...I was thinking if...umm...we could..." Yumi fidgeted in her place as Sachiko watched with a sigh.

"Yumi."

"Y-Yes?" Yumi replied nervously. It must had been the stern tone that Sachiko had used to say her name.

"If you want to say something please be clear about it, otherwise I will not be able to understand," Sachiko said as she gazed down at the girl.

Yumi nodded. "I was wondering if we could get out of this party a little...early." She said shyly, her eyes downcast on her shoes as she found herself shuffling back and forth on them.

Sachiko just looked at the girl as if she had provided an answer to all of her problems. However, her proper teachings taught her to never leave a party unless the party was over. Since the party wasn't over, she found it rather rude to leave without giving a proper reason. Her eyes then widened a little as the word 'reason' popped into her mind. If she could provide Takashi and her friends a reason for Yumi and her to leave, then she wouldn't feel as bad. However, she couldn't find a reason to leave the party. She was free today, free to do whatever that she wanted so if she said that she had work to do, her friends wouldn't believe her.

"Sachiko-sama?"

"We need a reason to leave, Yumi."

"Oh."

Silence.

Sachiko was still trying to think of a reason so she didn't quite hear what Yumi was saying. Okay, she heard her, but she wasn't quite paying attention when her mind was preoccupied with trying to come up with a good reason to depart from this party. So when Yumi sighed rather loudly and frowned up at her, Sachiko blinked out of her thoughts and regarded the brunette with a raised eyebrow.

"Why are you frowning, Yumi?"

"You weren't paying attention, Sachiko-sama," Yumi chided her as she crossed her arms. "Maybe I'm boring you," she added in a soft whisper.

Sachiko's eyes immediately widened as she heard the last sentence. If Yumi was boring her, she knew that she wouldn't be out here with the shorter girl. If Yumi was boring her, she wouldn't have wanted to pull Yumi into a soft embrace and assure the girl that she wasn't bored of her presence. If Yumi was boring her..._ 'Wait, why did I have this sudden urge to embrace her?'_ She thought but quickly dismissed it. She couldn't dwell on it for far too long when she had this sweet, adorable girl in front of her that wanted her undivided attention.

"My apologies, Yumi," Sachiko said sincerely as she placed a hand on Yumi's shoulder. Just the simple gesture of actually touching Yumi brought a small smile on her lips. "What was it that you were saying?"

Yumi blushed. "I thought that if we could say that I have an errand to do and that I need your help, maybe they can take that as an excuse and let us leave?"

Sachiko raised an eyebrow at the blushing girl. Yumi had turned her eyes away from her, and she couldn't help but feeling a bit playful. So when she spoke, her tone of voice was coaxed in playfulness. "Do you want to be alone with me that bad?"

Yumi gasped and she wondered if the gasp was any indication that the younger girl had been caught or not. She chose the latter when Yumi turned and looked at her incredulously. "Wha – no!"

Sachiko chuckled softly before placing a hand atop where her heart was, feigning a pout. "That hurts, Yumi. I thought that you want to be alone with me that is why you are out here with me. I guess I was wrong," she sighed then turned to face the door. "Maybe I should get back to the party to get rid of this pa –"

Yumi had quickly wrapped her arms around the taller girl's arms and Sachiko had to rein in a gasp. She could feel Yumi's front against her forearm, even though it was only through her fabric of clothing. Still, the warmth of the other girl's chest and the action was enough to stop her from saying anything further. She still didn't understand how Yumi had her so wrapped up around the girl's tiny finger. She just couldn't understand how she had felt she wanted to get closer to Yumi when she first saw and heard her. Were her friends right about her finally finding a petite soeur? If she did then it was too late to even offer Yumi her rosary that she had never given to anyone. However, what if she wanted Yumi as more as petite soeur, what would happen then? Clearly, she couldn't afford to think like that when her social status wasn't that simple.

"I'm sorry," Yumi murmured softly. "I don't know why, and I don't understand it very well especially when this is only our third meeting but...I can't find myself to stop thinking about you even when I'm working. I know that you're a busy woman and all, but if I have a request of spending this night with you, would you grant it?"

Sachiko widened her eyes as she listened to what Yumi had to say. She wasn't sure if that was a confession or not, but she knew that just by listening to it her heart was beating really fast and loudly against her chest. Did she want it to be a confession though? She didn't know but she felt like she should be answering Yumi instead of falling silence like this. After all, the girl was waiting for her to say something. So she placed her hand on top of Yumi's and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Of course, I would grant you that request." She replied softly and felt Yumi tightened her hold around her arm.

"Thank you, Sachiko-sama," Yumi murmured before pulling away from Sachiko's arm but not letting go off of her hand. She smiled up at the taller girl before opening the door. "Well, let's go and tell them!"

Sachiko chuckled at the sudden change of Yumi's mood. It was true that she had never met anyone like Yumi. Sure, Yoshino was energetic but she wasn't as much interesting as Yumi was. Whenever she was with Yumi she was always caught off guard. It wasn't like her guard was up anyway, but even so she had never been the one to find herself speechless whenever Yumi would say something that truly surprise her. The sudden action earlier where Yumi had hugged her arm, that was a surprise. The only person that she would let such action to be carried out would be her cousin, Matsudaira Touko. Yumi was just a photographer that she had barely known except for the name and her phone number, yet she felt like she had known her for longer than that. So that led her to another question, did Maria-sama grant her the only prayer that she had been praying for all of her life?

"Ah, welcome back you two," Youko spoke as soon as Sachiko found herself standing in front of her friends again, next to Yumi.

"Did you have a good _talk_?" Sei asked, winking at the two girls playfully and only Yumi was affected by it.

"Um...we...have to..uh...go..." Yumi spoke as she shifted on her feet uncomfortably as she looked around the occupants at the table. Her eyes then landed on Kanade as the latter raised an eyebrow at her. Then she followed the girl's emerald eyes and silently gasped when she saw what her friend was looking at. She quickly shook her head at the dirty blonde until the latter was giggling at her.

"What's wrong, Yumi? You look like you're keeping a secret from me," Kanade said as she raised a playful eyebrow at the brunette, her lips spreading into a smirk. "Now I see why you asked about..mmph!"

Yumi had quickly cut off whatever Kanade was saying by covering her mouth over the girl's mouth. "Jeez, Kanade, you shouldn't talk with your mouth full," Yumi rolled her eyes before glaring down at the girl.

Sachiko only watched the two, completely intrigued by whatever Kanade was trying to say before Yumi had interrupted her. She brushed it off, however, knowing that Yumi might tell her later. So she turned to face everyone before bowing at them and giving them an apologetic look. "Yumi has an errand to do and she has asked me for help. We're sorry that we can't be here and enjoy the time with you all."

Sei waved her hand at the subject, dismissing Sachiko's reason because, quite clearly, she didn't buy it. "Just go, it's not like we'd get to see the two of you jumping each other bones."

"Sei, behave," chided Youko as she gave the taller blonde a sharp nudge in the rib. "Just do what you want to do, Sachiko and Yumi. I'll watch over...eh."

Yumi had pulled her hand away from Kanade's mouth and was looking behind her to where Hibiki was. She and Saeko had stopped fighting, much to her relief. However, they were now having a staring contest, or something since she didn't want to know why their faces were so close to one another. She then turned to look down at Kanade before quickly taking a step back. She could see the latter's eye twitching and the murderous look on her face. She didn't want to witness Kanade on a rampage. She also didn't want to be on the receiving end of Kanade's anger either. Immediately, she felt sorry for Hibiki because she knew why Kanade was acting the way she was.

"Well, we'll be going now!" Yumi spoke up, hoping that it would sway Kanade's attention back to her. Unfortunately it didn't. She sighed before patting Kanade on the shoulder but the girl didn't even budge. "Try not to chew her out too hard, Kanade. She's just having fun."

"We'll see how much fun she'll be having when I'm through with her," Kanade quickly responded, her tone was so cold that it sent an unpleasant chill down Yumi's spine.

Yumi sighed once again. She then heard Sachiko bidding her farewells to the rest of the girls before the both of them walked over to Takashi, telling him the exact excuse that they had used on the other girls. After they bid farewell to him, they walked out of the room and out of the house. Sachiko led Yumi to her red sport car and after disarming the security alarm and the locks, she slipped into it and waited for Yumi to get in before turning the engine on.

"Where to, Yumi?" She asked as she did a U-turn and was slowly easing the car down the hill.

"Do you know that old dancing studio that has been abandoned up until now?" Yumi asked.

Sachiko nodded. "I've heard that someone had bought the studio. Is that where we are going?"

Yumi smiled as she nodded. "Yes! And actually, it was me and my friends that combined our money to get the studio."

"Really?" Sachiko asked and once she got a nod from the other girl, she smiled. "That's impressive, I must say."

They talked a little bit more about how Yumi and the others had found the studio, and how Yumi had met them all and befriended with them. Sachiko found Yumi's story to be quite refreshing and interesting. She would never have thought that being normal would be...well, a good thing. She had grown up in a strict family and had been made into a lady, something that she could never get rid of just to be 'normal'. And yet, just listening and being around Yumi made her feel normal. She even felt comfortable around her when she knew that Yumi wasn't expecting anything from her, and she wasn't expecting anything from the other girl as well. It was as if she had this mutual understanding without any of them had spoken up about it.

"Ah, we're here!" Yumi exclaimed excitedly as Sachiko steered the car into one of the parking slots outside the studio. Yumi instantly jumped out of the car after Sachiko had shut the engine down, and skipped over to the door to open the lock.

Sachiko joined Yumi soon after and once Yumi had finished unlocking the lock, she grabbed Sachiko's hand as if it was the most natural thing to do, and pulled her inside as she pushed the door open. She then gently shut the door while Sachiko walked further into the studio, her sapphire eyes glancing at all of the objects and what little furniture that the studio seemed to be holding. Even though there wasn't much, the place gave off a warmth aura and she felt more comfortable that she ever had been in any other places, even at home. When she saw a little bar on the far right corner, she raised her eyebrow at it as if the little bar was out of place. Then again, it somehow seemed to fit in with the image that the studio was giving off, even if it was out of place.

"So...do you like it?" Yumi asked hesitantly as she looked over at Sachiko, or rather, at the taller girl's back.

"It feels nice," Sachiko responded as she turned to look at Yumi over her shoulder. "Thank you for showing me this place, Yumi."

Yumi blushed as she shook her head. "It's no problem!" She then quickly joined Sachiko before taking the girl's hand in hers once more, leading her over to the couch and eased the girl down on it. She then moved over to where the bar was and pulled out two wine glasses before pouring some red wine into them. She brought the two glasses over to Sachiko and offered one to her. "This is our hang out place and we're always here. Well, they're always here since I've been busy lately."

"Busy?" Sachiko asked curiously.

"Yes, I've been busy with...um...the project that Tsutako-san had entrusted me with."

Sachiko studied Yumi's expression before she could see a slight frown upon the girl's face. That only made her to be more curious. "Our photoshoot?" Yumi nodded. "What's wrong with it?"

"You don't look happy," Yumi responded softly. If Sachiko hadn't strain her ears to listen, then she would have missed it.

"I don't look happy?" Sachiko asked, confused as to what Yumi was implying. "Do I look happy at the moment?"

Yumi seemed to be taken aback at what the heiress had just asked. So she looked over at Sachiko as the raven hair beauty smiled at her. There, just like that, she could see that the smile actually reached Sachiko's eyes. Quickly as if she would have missed the moment, she placed the wine glass down on the nearby table and stood up. She moved behind the sofa and pulled out the camera that she had been hiding in the bag behind the sofa, and turned to smile at Sachiko. The heiress knew exactly what Yumi wanted to do so her smile only widened as Yumi quickly took a few snapshots of her. Soon enough it turned into a play as Sachiko let herself get too comfortable while Yumi made her laugh and giggle. It wasn't long until Sachiko had snatched the camera out of Yumi's grasp and was beginning to take photos of Yumi while the latter was trying to get her camera back with the most adorable pout that she had ever seen.

They were still on the sofa while Sachiko swiftly and gracefully moved out of the way whenever Yumi reached over to grab at her camera. When Sachiko had stood up and was about to get away from Yumi, she felt a hand grabbing at her jacket and soon enough she felt herself being pulled backward. The camera had fallen out of her hands and had landed just before her feet when she, herself, had landed on a soft surface. Soon she realized that she had landed on Yumi's lap, and the latter had her arm around Sachiko's waist to keep her from falling forward. Sachiko's face began to heat up as she stayed still, not daring to move. Not a short moment pass that she felt another hand snaked around the other side of her body and wrapped itself around her waist, joining the arm. She then felt herself being pulled back furthermore, and into the younger girl's body as she felt Yumi's front pressing into her back.

"Yumi..." Sachiko spoke, her voice came out as a whisper. Her heart was beating painfully inside her chest, wanting to burst out of her chest if she didn't calm herself. She couldn't even if she tried to. Yumi was just so close to her and not to mention that she found herself trapped in the latter's arms, and she didn't want to get out of it just yet.

"This feels...too natural," Yumi spoke, her breath hitting the side of Sachiko's neck. The brunette didn't even notice that the heiress had just shivered because of her. She was too busy dwelling on the fact that she was confused why it felt so natural to have the raven hair beauty in her arms. "I wonder why it feels so natural to have you in my arms."

Instead of answering to what Yumi had said, Sachiko bit down at her bottom lip as she brought her arms up and wrapped them around Yumi's. She, too, wondered why it felt so natural, so good, so _incredibly_ good to be in Yumi's arms. If the night could last forever, she wouldn't have minded just to stay where she was at this moment, that was for sure.


	8. Chapter 8

**[ Chapter 8 ]**

'_These hands...'_ Yumi thought as she gazed down at her hands. She didn't know why she was sitting on the edge of her bed, staring down at her hands as if they were some kind of mystery to her. In a sense, they were. She couldn't figure out why her body had reacted the way it did, especially when Sachiko had slipped out of her grasps that night...

_She didn't know how long they had stayed like that, Sachiko being in her arms with Yumi pressing up against her back. When Sachiko shifted a little to get comfortable, Yumi had to bite down on her lips to prevent a gasp from escaping. Nevertheless, they stayed like that with neither of them daring to break the blissful moment between them. Yumi knew that it wasn't right to hold Sachiko the way that she was holding her. It wasn't the fact that they were both females, that had never troubled her before and it wouldn't now. It was the fact that she knew exactly what she was feeling toward the taller raven hair girl. It wasn't right to have feelings for the heiress when the heiress was almost unreachable. Sachiko was an Ogasawara and she was...a nobody. So how was she going to expect Sachiko to return her feelings? How was she going to prevent herself from getting hurt? After all, she knew that Sachiko had been engaged to be married, so what she was doing right now was just wrong._

"_Yumi."_

_The brunette heard her name being spoken in the gentlest voice that she could've ever heard. She wanted to hear it more often. However, would keeping Sachiko all to herself a crime? Despite the fact that the heiress was already taken by another man, would it really be selfish of her to try and sway the heiress to choose her? Stupid! Of course Sachiko wouldn't do such a thing! To Yumi, Sachiko was someone that had honor and respect to the commitment that she had chosen for herself. So of course, this unrequited love wasn't something that Sachiko would want. The heiress couldn't throw everything away just to be with her. So, having her arms around Sachiko like this, was wrong._

_Reluctantly Yumi entangled her arms around the heiress' waist. She could feel the Sachiko tensing up as she slowly pulled her arms away. She then leaned back into the sofa and watched the heiress' back. Those silky raven locks were before her eyes, begging her to run her hands through them but she resisted the urge to do so. She couldn't succumb to her desire right now, not when she had concluded that it was wrong to do so. She couldn't just take advantage of Sachiko like this. That thought almost make her chuckle. Of all the things she could have thought, she had to think that she was the one that was taking advantage of Sachiko. However, if it was the other way around, would she have let Sachiko take advantage of her?_

_What seemed to be like hours passed by with Sachiko stayed in her spot, on Yumi's lap, while Yumi just stared blankly at the heiress' silky raven locks. Then the brunette heard a sigh, though she didn't know what the sigh was for. Sachiko then stood up and turned to face her. Yumi looked up at the deep sapphire eyes that were swimming in uncertainty. She could also see the reluctance within those eyes and she couldn't understand why it was there. Then she looked away, her lips moved but it didn't seem like there was any sound coming from it. Well, she thought that she had said something, but when Sachiko had requested her to repeat what she said, she gently bit down her bottom lip before saying the two words again._

"_I'm sorry."_

_She could try and ease some kind of emotions into them like regret, maybe. However, it came out as emotionless as ever and she couldn't tell what the other girl was thinking. She wouldn't even dare to look at Sachiko at that moment. _

"_I'm sorry too," Sachiko spoke softly and when Yumi had managed to turn her head to look at her, all the brunette could see was the tears streaming down the delicate face of the Ogasawara heiress as the said girl wrapped her arms around herself. _

"_Sa –" Yumi began but was cut off as Sachiko spoke once more, though louder this time._

"_I'm sorry that I may seem to be leading you on, Yumi, but that's never my intention! I really do want to be with you but because of my social status, I'm not sure how that is going to work for us! I'm engaged to be married to a man that I will never love, and I'm sure that he doesn't love me the way that I would have hoped he did so many years ago. So before things get complicated between the two of us, please...just please, at least let's try to be friends, _remain_ friends, even if it hurts not...not to be in your arms again!"_

_Yumi was in shock. She clearly wasn't expecting to hear what she was hearing. That was a confession right? It had to be! Sachiko just said that she wanted to be with her! Despite knowing that why did her chest hurt so much? It was as if she could break down and cry tears of joy. Sachiko wanted her but it didn't look like she would be able to do anything else but to suppress those feelings inside. She could understand, just a little, of why Sachiko had said what she did. Sachiko wanted to be friends because of her social status. Sachiko wanted to be friends because she was engaged to be married to a loveless marriage. Sachiko wanted to be friends because she was torturing herself from the happiness that she could of have. Now this wasn't right at all._

"_Why can't you cancel the engagement?" Yumi asked. She then watched as Sachiko shook her head, tears were still falling from her eyes freely._

"_This is one of the duties that an Ogasawara heiress should take on," Sachiko responded quietly and sadly. "It is an obligation that I cannot run away from."_

_Yumi frowned. What kind of a family would do such a thing to their daughter? She knew that her family would never do anything that would make her unhappy. However, if the Ogasawara only cared about the family obligations then they clearly didn't deserve to be respected by so many people in Japan. Also, she couldn't believe that Sachiko had to go through with it because it was her duty to do so. What kind of a twisted duty was that anyway? Not only that Sachiko was unhappy, she was going to be miserable for the rest of her life! Well, what about her? She knew that the only one that she would ever want to be in her arms would be Sachiko. Her eyes could only see Sachiko and her heart was only beating for Sachiko. So would that mean that she would be miserable as well? That wasn't the conclusion that she was expecting to have._

_Clenching her fist, Yumi stood up as Sachiko managed to take a step back. She was frowning at Sachiko. Yes, she wasn't frowning at the Ogasawara's obligations or how they had destroyed their daughter's life. She was frowning at Sachiko and with a reason too. _

"_So you, an Ogasawara heiress, Ogasawara Sachiko, is willing to admit defeat and close the door to the only happiness that is waiting right in front of you?" When she didn't get a respond, her frown deepened and before she knew it, she had Sachiko's down on the sofa and was pinching both of the heiress' hands beside her face while she hovered above her. "I thought you were strong, Sachiko! When you walked into the studio that day your presence was so strong that it was hard for me to even utter a word to you! You looked so proud in what you do and you had never backed down from a challenge. Yet! Here you are, without even trying to do anything regarding to your loveless arranged marriage, are already giving up! Not only that, you're throwing away the key to happiness and doesn't even seem to regret it!"_

_Yumi watched as Sachiko laid underneath her, sapphire eyes widened in shock. Unfortunately, she wasn't done. "Sachiko-sama, let me show you what you're missing," and with that said she lowered her head down and claimed Sachiko's soft lips. The kiss was short but sweet, though to her it was bitter just like the situation that they were in. _

_After pulling away from Sachiko, she released Sachiko's hands from their confinement and lifted herself off of the taller girl. She then fished out the key to the studio and placed it on the table, near her wine glass before turning to look at the heiress. "I'll walk home so don't worry about dropping me off. And please, when you leave, lock up the place. We all have spare keys so you not need to worry."_

Yumi lifted her hand to touch her lips and sighed. _'Maybe I shouldn't have kissed her...'_ She thought but quickly dismissed it. It was silly to even think that she was regretting the kiss, their first kiss. Even though she wasn't expecting their first kiss to be like last night, she couldn't help but wanting more of it. She sighed and shook her head before falling back into the mattress. She had been staying up all of the night as she couldn't stop thinking about Sachiko. She was tired but no matter how hard she tried to fall asleep, she couldn't. The sun had already gone up too, and she wasn't sure of the time. She didn't want to look though. She didn't want to see how long it had been for her to stay up with the thought of Sachiko filling her mind.

A week passed and Yumi had finished her project. She had used one of the photos that she had taken of Sachiko on the night that she had been trying hard to forget. Somehow, they had both confessed to each other but only one had decided not to accept the love that she was feeling. Actually, both of them couldn't tell if it was love just yet. They only had the feeling of being close to one another, but love? That was something that was still oblivious to them.

Yumi had phoned up Sachiko's manager after she had finished the project that Tsutako had asked of her. The two had both agreed to meet at the local cafe and Yumi was there earlier than the agreed time. She didn't have anything to do after all, so it wouldn't hurt to be early...half an hour early. Yumi sighed as she looked down at her watch for the tenth time within ten minutes. It was only twenty minutes until Sachiko's manager would arrive. With another sigh she leaned back into her chair and watched as the clouds passed by. She wasn't sure how long she was staring at the sky in a blank expression until she heard movement from beside her. She turned to look at the sound to find that Kisami Aya was looking at her in an amused expression.

"Good afternoon, Fukuzawa-san," Aya said as she watched Yumi quickly stood up and bowed.

"Good afternoon, Kisami-sama," Yumi quickly said as her nerve was recovering from the surprise appearance from Aya.

When both women settled down into their seats, Aya smiled over at Yumi before she began speaking. "How are you, Fukuzawa-san? I hope that the project doesn't keep you busy for too long."

Yumi shook her head. "The project wasn't too hard at all. I did get to relax quite a bit with my friends. I believe that if you keep working and never get to have one moment of relaxation would mentally kill you," she said with a little giggle.

Aya chuckled and nodded. "I agreed, Fukuzawa-san."

Yumi shuffled her legs before she sighed. "How's Sachiko-sama doing?" She asked. She had been trying to get away from the subject regarding Sachiko, but obviously she couldn't do it. She wanted to know how the heiress was. She remembered a phone call not too long ago from no other than Mizuno Youko.

_Yumi was editing the photo of Sachiko that she had been working on. Despite everything that had happened, she wanted to get this project done to the best of her ability. She wanted to make Tsutako proud, and possibly Sachiko too. She couldn't just let Tsutako or Sachiko down just because the heiress chose to obey the Ogasawara's obligations than to choose her. After all, who would have chosen someone when they had only met for three times? Not to mention when the said person barely knew anything about her?_

_Yumi frowned as she once again pressed the Undo button on her computer. How was she going to finish this piece when she couldn't get one single line right? Not to say, she had been making a lot of mistakes of erasing the background because she had accidentally erased some of Sachiko's beautiful locks more than once. Her heart was wavering, so there was no doubt that she couldn't perform the task right. As many times as she had tried to calm herself down and just relax, as soon as the photo of Sachiko reappeared on her screen, her heart began to break. She was in the midst of staring at the beautiful heiress when her mobile suddenly rang, startling her which had made her clicked the mouse and in resulted in erasing Sachiko's smile._

"_Hello?" Yumi asked after picking up her phone without bothering to look at who was calling._

"_Did I call at the wrong time, Yumi?" A voice that she didn't quite recognize asked on the other line. _

_Noticing that she had just come off as rude, Yumi softly sighed before managing a small smile to appear on her lips. "I'm sorry, work as been stressing me out a little bit," she lied. "May I ask who is calling?"_

"_This is Mizuno Youko," the woman responded. "I believe we have met at Takashi's party last week."_

"_Oh yes, I remember you," Yumi answered, her smile slowly widened a little. "Is there a reason you're calling me?"_

_Youko chuckled. "You're quite perceptive, aren't you, Yumi?"_

_Yumi blushed lightly. "I-I guess, Youko-sama."_

_Youko sighed. "I call in regard to Sachiko. She apologized that she couldn't speak to you so I'm calling as per request from her. I hope you don't mind that, Yumi."_

"_No, not at all," Yumi replied with a shake of her head. "What is Sachiko-sama's message?"_

"_Her birthday is next week. She wanted me to invite you to attend it on Saturday night. Well, you and your brother," Youko said gently._

"_I've already been invited to it, Youko-sama," Yumi spoke. "Yuuki came over not a day ago with an invitation card with both my name and his name in it."_

_Youko gave out a sigh. "And you told Yuuki that you won't come?"_

_Like a deer caught in the red light, Yumi's eyes widened. "H-How –"_

"_Yuuki called up the Ogasawara household and apologized to Sachiko when she picked up the phone," Youko said, successfully cutting Yumi's question as she knew exactly what the younger girl would have asked. "He said he will be attending and represent as the Fukuzawa household and company."_

"_I see," Yumi quietly spoke._

"_Sachiko would want to see you there," Youko said, a hint of a smile in her voice. "You're the only person that she wants to see at her birthday party, Yumi."_

"_But –," Yumi started to protest but Youko's sigh cut her off._

"_Please, Yumi?" Youko pleaded softly._

_Yumi was silent for a while, thinking it through before giving a small nod. "Alright, I will...attend."_

"_Thank you, Yumi," Youko said and before she hung up, she added. "Your friends are coming as well, by the way. I will see you there."_

_Before Yumi had the chance to respond, she was greeted with a dead line. The last thing that was on her imaginative mind was her friends creating havoc at the heiress' party._

"She's more quiet than usual," Aya spoke as she looked at the girl opposite her in curiosity. "I do wonder what had happened last week."

"M-Maybe she's stressing," Yumi quickly answered, hoping that the older woman would look at anything but her.

"Mmm, Sachiko does stress but she always handles her strange efficiently well," the red head responded before she raised an eyebrow at Yumi. "Is there anything I should know about, Fukuzawa-san?"

Yumi was too quick to shake her head but she didn't realize that her action only added into Aya's curiosity. "Nothing, Kisami-sama!"

Aya opened her mouth to speak but the sound of a mobile going off got her to close it. She watched as Yumi bowed her head while apologizing profusely before pulling out her mobile. Yumi turned away from the observing eyes of Aya and quietly speak to the girl on the other line. Once Yumi had finished talking, the brunette quickly turned back and looked at Aya apologetically.

"I'm sorry about that but it looks like I have to get going," she said as she then leaned down and brought her bag to the table. She unzipped it before placing her hand inside it. After touching the finished copy of the photo she had worked on, she pulled it out and slipped it over to Aya. "I've stayed up two nights to get the result that I really want. If there is anything that you would want me to do, then please call me. I'm afraid that if I don't go now I wouldn't hear the end of it from a very persistent woman."

Aya chuckled as she took the folder. "That's alright. If you have something else to do, then please leave this to me."

Yumi smiled in gratitude and stood up. "Have a nice day, Kisami-sama."

"You too, Fukuzawa-san." Aya then watched as Yumi quickly walked toward the other side of the street until she disappeared. The red head then let out a sigh that she didn't know that she had been holding. _'What am I going to do with you two?'_

Yumi quickened her pace to get to where her car was parked and once she was almost there, she saw a familiar figure from the corner of her eyes. She swore that she had seen the figure somewhere but she couldn't, for the life of her, remember where she had seen the woman from. She didn't want to disturb the woman when she looked to be so serene and angelic that she was afraid if she did disturb her, she would have committed some kind of a sin. So shaking the curiosity out of her system, Yumi resumed walking toward her car. The sooner she'd get to the old dancing studio, the sooner she'd find out what the group wanted to talk to her about.

"We're going all out!" Hibiki declared.

Yumi had just arrived a moment earlier and already, she was beginning to feel like whatever her friends were planning, it wasn't going to be good. "What are you talking about, Hibiki-san?"

"All of us are attending Sachiko-sama's birthday party next Saturday, am I correct?" Kanade asked as she looked at Yumi. She had already been told by Yuuki that his sister wasn't coming, and she wanted to use this chance to persuade Yumi to come. She didn't know what had happened to Yumi and Sachiko that night; especially when they had come back the next day with the latter had fallen asleep on the couch, drunk out of her wits. She knew that it wasn't like Yumi to leave a person drunk alone, but after finding out from the heiress that Yumi didn't know about it, she and the group had agreed to keep it a secret.

"Why are you looking at me?" Yumi asked as she shot a look directly at Kanade.

"Because I've heard from the southern wind that you're not coming," Kanade replied.

"So, Yuuki-kun is the southern wind now huh?" Yuujiro playfully said as he looked over at the other Fukuzawa sibling with a chuckle. "You're getting a lot of nicknames lately, Fukuzawa-sama."

Ignoring his friend playful remark, Yuuki looked at his older sister worriedly. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

Yumi sighed softly. She had forgotten to tell him that she would be coming. She had been too caught up with editing Sachiko's front page photo that she forgot about it. "I am going!" She said with a triumphant huff. "Jeez, you guys don't have to jump my bones just because of it."

"But that is all that we can do," Toru quickly spoke up casually. "Actually, that's all that we can do; jumping your bones."

Yumi rolled her eyes at him indifferently as Hibiki and Kanade started to giggle. "I can tell when I'm going to be lying in bed while _all_ of you take care of me since my bones will be too tired to even move."

"All jokes aside, I called you here for a reason," Hibiki said with a happy smile. To Yumi, that smile was just too suspicious.

"And the reason being...?" Yumi asked as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"We're going to perform at Sachiko-sama's birthday party as a gift from us!" Hibiki said proudly, added with a much cheerful grin.

"I pass," Yumi quickly said as she shook her hand in front of her.

"You're going to be singing," Hibiki said as she gave the shorter brunette a stern look.

"Like I said, I pass."

"That's not going to happen," Hibiki frowned as she folded her arms.

"Oh, it _will_ happen," Yumi retorted.

While Hibiki and Yumi argued over such a trivial matter, the rest of the members were watching on with a sigh. Yuuki had his face in his palm, Toru was following the argument with his eyes as they moved back and forth between Hibiki and Yumi, and Kanade was just yawning and looking as bored as ever. Only Yuujiro had decided to act upon it as the ice breaker. He had moved over to where the music system was at. Before turning it on, he glanced at the two girls that were arguing with one another. With a sigh, he turned the speaker on as full blast. At the ear-deafening sound, both girls stopped arguing with one another while the other members were trying to get their hearing back.

"That was uncalled for, Yuujiro!" Hibiki shouted angrily at the pretty blonde male.

Yuujiro just shrugged. "You two were boring the hell out of us, so I thought '_why not just make them deaf?_', y'know."

"What do you want me to sing?" Yumi suddenly spoke up. They all turned to look at her, wondering what had gotten her to change her mind so fast.

"I thought we could do two songs," Kanade said thoughtfully. "The first one can be Hibiki and I singing and the second one can be Yumi."

"And they are?" Yumi asked, growing a little impatient that they had to play the waiting game with her.

Kanade sighed as she looked over at her friend. "You choose the song you want to sing for Sachiko-sama, Yumi. As for the first song, I thought we could do _You're My Only Shorty_? Of course, if we chose to do that, Yuujiro would have to sing the guy part."

"It's a happy song, so we'll go with that," Hibiki said, nodding in approval. "What song are you going to sing, Yumi? We can start rehearsing as soon as we got the two songs sorted."

Yumi just stared blankly at her friends, or rather, five pair of eyes that were looking at her expectedly. She didn't have any problem with performing any of the songs that they would want to choose. The problem was that they wanted _her_ to _choose_ her own song. She just couldn't choose at the moment, not when she wasn't sure whether to choose a song that the group had written long ago, or to write up a song and dedicate it the heiress. Those were the only options that she could choose and yet, despite the fact she had two choices, she just couldn't choose which to go for.

"I don't know," Yumi quietly answered as she stared at the ground. _'I just...don't know.'_


	9. Chapter 9

**[ Chapter 9 ]**

There was one thing that she had been taught to obey ever since she was a child; the Ogasawara obligations. She had never been taught to want something that would make her to disobey. She also had never been taught to love. Yes, she admitted that she had fallen in love. It must have been love at first sight for her, especially she knew that Yumi had never once left her mind after she had laid her eyes on the girl. Still, how was she supposed to choose between love and duty? She was dutiful as both a person and an Ogasawara. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't bring herself to disobey the family's instructions. Of course, she had brought herself up to ask about this 'hobby' as an actress of hers, but that was just a little trivial matter, it wasn't worth to look into. Now, how was she going to bring herself up to her family and confessed that she had fallen in love with another person? Much less a woman? Her family would be outrage by it, she could tell. There was no sibling to take her place as the heir to the Ogasawara's throne. It was up to her to marry a man and give the Ogasawara clan the future heir of the Ogasawara. She knew that both she and Suguru would not even _touch_ each other in an intimate way, so how on earth would she be able to even reproduce?

Sachiko sighed before the event from the other night flashed into her mind. Unconsciously, she brought her hand up to her lips as she let her fingers lightly grazed the bottom lip. That kiss that she had received from Yumi, thought short, it still a kiss that she would sure to remember for as long as she'd live. At that time she had been too shock to respond to the kiss but she knew that if she had, her heart would be soaring into the other girl's lips. Yumi had clearly shown her what she was missing. No, _had been missing_ would be the correct statement. Of course, she had kissed Suguru numerous of times in the past but those kisses were forced. Both Suguru and she had forced each other to perform an intimate act just to satisfy their families. Both of them were cowards, she had to agree to that. Since neither of them would come out to their families, they had silently accepted the fate that had bestowed upon them. However, Yumi had appeared and entered her life, slowly destroying the cruel fate that Sachiko had accepted. Yumi had done her part and she knew that it was up to her to do her part. The question was; could she do it?

The heiress stood up from the edge of her bed and walked over to the balcony door, sliding it open before stepping out into the chilly night. She leaned against the railings as she looked up into the sky. The stars were shining brightly, though the beautiful Moon had outshone them all. However, the beautiful night had gone unfazed to her since she couldn't find anything beautiful when her heart couldn't settle down. Sachiko knew that she shouldn't have let Yumi walked out of the studio that night. She knew that she could have gone after her. She knew that she should of have _begged_ her to stay. But no, she didn't do all of that. She had to watch the girl that had brought her so much laughter walked out the door. She had stayed like that even when Yumi had disappeared from her sight. She had let tears rolled down the side of her face for a good while before pulling herself up. Then, right there, she had decided to down her sorrow by the use of alcohol.

_She didn't know that she had consumed too much alcohol, not even when she had passed out on the couch with a few empty bottles lying on the floor below her. The alcohol didn't quite help chase the bad dream away, but at least it helped in her sorrow as she drank her night away. Despite the knowledge of waking up with a terrible hangover, she still downed them all anyway. And despite the knowledge of not being at home, she couldn't stop until darkness embraced her. Sachiko had only woken up to the loud noise of footsteps and loud voices. Well, that was what she had heard anyway since her headache was making the smallest of sound to be loud._

"_Oh, she's awake."_

_Sachiko winced at the voice as it rang loudly in her ears. She then opened her eyes before wincing again at the brightness of the room. If she had to guess, it was already morning. So it was only normal for the studio to be so bright._

"_Go get some aspirins, Hibiki."_

_The heiress only sighed in relief when the next voice wasn't too loud. However, she winced at the sound of loud footsteps going forth and back. She then felt a light pressure on her shoulder until she realized that it was someone's hand. If she had the strength at this moment she would have brush the offending hand off of her body, but since she was too wasted to even raise a finger, she had to let it slide._

"_Sachiko-sama, can you sit up for me?"_

'That voice...where have I heard it?'_ Sachiko thought before she started to wince again at another painful throb of her head. Nevertheless, she obeyed to the voice's order and tried to sit up. She felt a pair of hands by her side immediately when she started to move. Silently, she thanked whoever it was that was helping her and soon enough she was perched up against a soft pillow. _

"_I believe you're receiving one of the worst hangover in history, Sachiko-sama," the voice said and she could have sworn that she heard a giggle there. "Here, try and swallow the aspirins and the water."_

_Sachiko was presented with a glass of water and a couple of aspirins. She took the aspirins, popped them into her mouth and drank the water to help with the swallowing process. The pills tasted awful but she knew that she would have to endure it if she wanted to feel better. After giving the empty glass to the owner of the voice, she let her eyes finally rest on the person. Dirty blonde hair, worried emerald eyes with concern, beautiful face greeted her. If she could for the life of her remember this woman before her, then she would have thanked the girl properly._

"_I apologize for my rudeness but have we met somewhere?" She asked._

_The girl in question giggled quietly. "Yes, we've met last night actually. I'm Kanade, Yumi's friend."_

_Realization dawned on her as she nodded and glanced around the studio. She remembered being here but she couldn't remember sleeping here. When her eyes finally looked over to where the empty bottles of wine were being held by two males, all memories of last night came pouring into her head. She let out a soft groan as she clutched at her head. That was too much to register with a pounding headache._

"_That was quite some party you had there," Hibiki said playfully and once again, Sachiko winced at the loud noise._

"_Hibiki, please go sit in the corner," Kanade said with a sigh. When Hibiki opened her mouth to protest, she beat the girl into it. "Your voice is too loud at the moment and it isn't helping with Sachiko-sama's condition."_

_Hibiki mumbled an apology and did as she was told. However, instead of actually sitting in the corner like her girlfriend had told her to, she went to join the guys from the opposite side of the studio. When the four of them had entered the studio a couple hours ago they were quite shocked to see the Ogasawara actress lying on the sofa, with a few empty wine bottles on the floor. They immediately had the same thought; _Where is Yumi?_ However, after cleaning the place up and trying to be as quiet as they could, the heiress woke up and Kanade had taken it as her responsibility to take care of the now hangover Sachiko. They were worried about the heiress and of course, they were a tad disappointed in Yumi for leaving Sachiko alone like this._

"_I apologize for Yumi's rudeness," Kanade spoke up but her voice was low enough to not to hurt Sachiko's head. "If we knew that she would do something like this, which we never thought she was capable of, we would not lend her the key."_

_Sachiko shook her head gently. "It's not her fault, Kanade-san. She didn't know that I am still here."_

"_She didn't?" Kanade asked in surprise. "She left you here all alone?"_

"_It was partly my fault," Sachiko sighed. "I could of have given her a ride home but I guess...something unpleasant came up and both of us couldn't face each other after that."_

"_So...you're not on good terms with her?" Kanade asked and berated herself afterward. "I'm sorry! I don't mean to pry!"_

_Sachiko winced at the sudden loud voice and Kanade once again apologized. "It's understandable, Kanade-san. You're her friend after all and I'm just..." She paused, shaking her head since she couldn't find a term that would fit her relationship with Yumi at the moment. "I'm just someone that she had worked with." Well, that would have to do._

"_I think you are more than that," Kanade said quietly. "She wouldn't have asked for the key to the studio just because she wanted to take photos of you. She wanted to be alone with you and all of us can see that. It's quite surprising that she suddenly has her eyes on you when she has never looked any women in that way before," the blonde then paused before she chuckled softly. "From what I've known, she stopped dating after graduating high school."_

"_She stopped dating?" Sachiko asked, curious. _

_Kanade nodded. "Yes, she did. She said that she couldn't feel anything while she was with her past...well...lover isn't the word for it, since she had never considered them to be her lovers."_

"_I see," Sachiko nodded. She then thought that maybe she was one of Yumi's experiments seeing that Yumi had never been with a woman. Maybe the girl's curiosity got the best out of her since she clearly couldn't feel anything while she was with other people. Yes, maybe she was just a tool for the beautiful young brunette._

"_It's different with you."_

_Sachiko blinked, not believing what she had just heard and what she was going to hear next._

"_I've known Yumi for three years and I've never seen her radiate before," Kanade began with a smile. "Sure, she has an outgoing personality and she always makes people smile with her contagious smile, but she has never been the person to stand out the most. However, when she's with you...No, after she had met you, she seems to glow little by little. Last night, despite the fact that she was feeling rather ashamed with Hibiki, Yuujiro and Toru's behaviors, she was glowing. So when the two of you left, I thought that it was going to be okay. I thought that she would be confessing to you. What I didn't expect was to turn up in the morning and seeing you sleeping on the sofa with empty bottles of wine not too far from you," she finished with an exasperated sigh._

"_I'm sorry."_

_Kanade shook her head quickly. "No, you don't have to apologize. I should be the one to apologize for Yumi's stubbornness." She then smiled at Sachiko, a smile of reassurance that she thought that the girl might need. "Don't worry though. Despite whatever that happened last night, Yumi won't give up on you."_

Knowing that Yumi wouldn't give up on her soothed her soul, but that wasn't enough to sooth her heart when she was just too close to give up on the younger girl. She didn't know whether she needed an advice or to make some rash decisions. Thankfully the night breeze greeted her, making her shiver as her arms wrapped around her body. With a sigh Sachiko turned and headed back inside her room. After so many days of not having the courage to pick up the phone and call the girl, she truly didn't know what she should do. How was she going to talk to Yumi after telling her that it wouldn't work out between them because she couldn't toss her duty away? Suguru had clearly stated that he wouldn't mind if she had a lover of her own, but that would be too selfish of her when she was engaged to him. Even if she harbored no romantic feelings toward him, she wouldn't feel right to have a lover before and after she would to wed him. Arranged marriage or not, it was still betrayal. The only way to get them out of this loveless marriage was to stop running from the impossible and make it possible, as in annul the engagement.

Sighing again that night, the heiress walked over to where her phone was sitting and picked it up. Sachiko was going to walk down the road of cowardice once more; that she was aware of. She shouldn't succumb herself in being that weak when it came to another person, another woman. Before she met Yumi she felt like she had lived and experienced enough. Now, after she had met Yumi she felt like she hadn't lived and experienced enough. Sachiko was not the kind of person to go out at night and arriving home very late. She had worried both her parents and servants when she had turned up on a Saturday afternoon after Takashi's party the night before. It was like she was breaking all the rules that she, herself, had drawn up. Since she always wanted to see and spend time with Yumi, she let her walls down. The result of that wasn't something that she was expecting, though she was both happy and sad at the same time. Her feelings for the girl weren't one-sided, that much she was happy about. She couldn't be with the girl and that was eating her up. When she could decide everything that regarded in the family business or her work effortlessly, she couldn't decide to whether accept the door of love or to shut it close.

Sachiko dialled the number that she had memorized and waited for the person to pick up. "Onee-sama, I need a favor."

The day had arrived to celebrate her birth. She thought that it was all unnecessary but since it was a must, she couldn't just tell everyone to stop fussing about the presents that she would want to have, or how she would like to decorate the party hall. In truth, she couldn't give a care about any of those. It was just another fancy party that her family decided to have to boost the Ogasawara reputation. She knew that her presence would boost the family's reputation and who was she not to be happy about that? The Ogasawara only had one daughter and that person was her. She was beautiful, intelligent and more of a lady than any of the aristocrats' ladies could ever be. She was powerful not only because of the family name. She was powerful because of her charm and influence on those around her. And yet, despite all of that, she still felt weak when she would have to come face to face with the girl that she was reluctant to give her heart to. She knew that if she did, not only that she was going to get hurt, but the other girl as well.

"Sachiko-Ojou-sama, everything is ready," a maid said as she bowed her head to Sachiko.

"Thank you," Sachiko said gently as she continued to run the hand brush through her hair.

"The guests have starting to arrive as well, Sachiko-Ojou-sama," the maid added and once she looked up, she smiled softly. "Is there anything that I can help you with, Ojou-sama?"

Sachiko placed the brush down on the vanity desk and turned her head to offer a smile to the maid. "Thank you, but I do not need any assistance at this type. Perhaps you should go down and help the others with the meal preparation."

The maid nodded and after excusing herself, she was out of the heiress' sight with the door closed behind her. Sachiko let out a sigh before turning her head to look at the reflection of herself in the mirror. She had been informed that Yumi was going to attend. Not only that, she also was informed that Yumi, Kanade, Hibiki, Yuujiro, Toru and Yuuki would be performing two songs for her as their birthday gifts. She wasn't sure if she should be happy or surprise by it since she had never received anything like it before. All of her presents that she had received in the past had always been bought by using money, and those presents were possibly a year worth salary of a commoner. So to receive gifts that were priceless was quite a turn of event, so she had decided – shortly after hearing it – to be both happy and surprised. At least there was something that she was looking forward to tonight.

Sachiko stood up from her desk and after disrobing, slipped into a dark blue dress. After tying a little knot at the back of her neck to finish the dress, she grabbed a white waist jacket and slipped it on. After pulling her luscious raven locks out from beneath the clothes, she finally put on her heels to complete her outfit. At least she was dressing up for one person at the person to see. Well, it wasn't like she would turn up at her own party in casuals either. So after checking herself in the mirror once more, she walked out of her room and down the corridors, toward the venue that the Ogasawara estate owned for private and business parties. When she arrived she was told to wait for a few seconds. She didn't have to wait for that long when she heard her name being announced, beckoning her to come forth. Breathing out a small sigh, she emerged out from the red blinds and put on a smile as her guests began to cheer and wishing her a happy birthday. Honestly, the majority of them were there to see her beauty, to talk business with her father and to enjoy free, luxurious food. Either than that not every single one of them was sincere about their wishes for her to have a happy celebration, except for the ones that she had personally invited.

"You look lovely as always, Sachiko," Youko said as she pulled her petite soeur into a warm embrace.

"Thank you, Onee-sama," Sachiko replied with a smile as she returned the hug. When they both pulled away, she looked at all of her friends and smiled at them. "Thank you for coming, all of you."

"And miss out your birthday party?" Sei asked with a raised eyebrow.

"And the _after_ party?" Yoshino added with a playful smirk. "There's no way that we would want to miss that!"

"That's not what I'm looking forward to though," Youko said as she tapped her chin. She flashed Sachiko a teasing smile before she turned her eyes over to the stage at the front of the hall. "I'm looking forward to see Yumi dance."

"Oh yes!" Sei chimed in with a teasing grin of her own. "Yumi's dancing did lure Sachiko over to her and got her into trouble with the fans at the club!"

"You two enjoy teasing me a little too much," Sachiko said, sighing softly.

"The more we love you, the more we tease you, you should know that," Youko grinned as she reached her hand over to lightly tap Sachiko's cheek.

Sachiko smiled and nodded as she leaned into the older girl's simple touch. "I know, Onee-sama."

"Oh, there they are," Shimako spoke up softly as she watched six people entered the stage.

Sachiko turned to look at the stage and she blushed. The only time that she had seen Yumi wearing something that would reveal just a tad too much of the girl's skin was when they were at the club. Even though Yumi wasn't wearing anything revealing, except for the white tank top that could be all too revealing if she was to get soaked. Just the thought got her to fluster some more and she was thankful that none of her friends were paying attention to her.

With the tank top that was hugging her bodice, Yumi had finished the look with a dark blue tie. She also wore a pair of dark skinny jeans that she had tucked in underneath the black three inches boots that she was wearing. Around her waist was a loose, chain belt to finish her whole look. At least this way she wouldn't have to take too long to get out of the outfit and into the dress that she had brought along with her. On her right was Hibiki, and she was wearing an orange top with a black waist jacket around her upper body. She was also wearing a white min satin skirt, a black polka dots belt around her waist, a pair of black knee high stockings and a pair of sneakers to finish her look. Kanade was wearing the same things except for the colors and the jeans to substitute the skirt. Also, instead of sneakers she had swapped it for a pair of creamy heels. At least the heels would match her dress that she would be wearing after the performance. The males' outfits were quite simple. They all had a black blouse on, accompanying by a white, orange and yellow tie. Their trousers were black, and they had on men's black leather's shoes that the girls knew they wouldn't have to worry about their formal outfits.

"Yumi looks good with those heels," Sei commented with a flirty grin.

"Just imagine if any of the club songs started to play," Eriko said with an amused chuckle. "Her outfit would suit a very, _very_, sexy song."

Youko sighed as she shook her head in defeat. "I'm not sure whether to tell you to stop or to encourage the two of you."

The three giggled as their younger soeurs watched on with a sigh and a shake of their heads. Their giggles were short lived when Hibiki approached the microphone and started to speak.

"Good evening everyone! We're...well, we don't actually have a name so I guess we'll go by Pretty People,"Hibiki said with a nervous chuckle when the crowd started to laugh and the three guys on the stage started to glare daggers behind her back. "Anyway, we greatly appreciated to be invited to celebrate Ogasawara Sachiko's birthday and since we couldn't think of any presents that would be worth buying for her, we decided to perform two songs and dedicate them to her."

"Mmm, I wonder why they're performing two songs," Yoshino mused as she gazed at the six people on stage.

"The first one will be sung from me and Kanade, the lovely blonde woman over there," Hibiki motioned her hand over to where Kanade was standing before turning her attention back to the crowd again. "After a much heated argument, we've finally come to a conclusion to perform one of the songs that we had recorded and rehearsed numerous of times," she took a pause, glancing over her shoulders to see that the other five members were getting into position. "We will give you the first song, Heartbeat!"

The microphones were then passed down to Yuujiro and Kanade as Hibiki took her position. The music started to play as Yuujiro started to softly sing the word 'Heartbeat' four times until Kanade joined in. While Yuujiro and Kanade were slightly swaying their bodies with the beat, Yumi had paired up with Toru and Hibiki with Yuuki. When the first verse hit, they had moved their bodies closer together and started a slow dance.

_I saw you talking on the phone_

_I know that you were not alone_

_But you're stealing my heart away_

_Yeah, you're stealing my heart away,_

Once Yuujiro had finished his part, Kanade quickly sang the next part as the females used their partners' body to be their dancing poles while the males stood still, supporting the females with their bodies.

_You're acting like your own your own_

_But I saw you standing with a girl_

_Stop trying to steal my heart away_

_Stop trying to steal my heart away,_

The females once again moved into a slow dance when the first bridge was being sung. Once the chorus picked up, the males joined in with the dance with their hands on both sides of the females' body, both guiding and supporting them as the females swayed their bodies sensually to the song as if they were one with it. Kanade had soon switched position with Hibiki as the latter was now dancing and singing with Yuujiro.

While the song was still going on and the dancing was becoming too much like some kind of viagra pills for most men in the hall – and perhaps some women as well, Sachiko's eyes were glued to Yumi as the latter dance. The move of the girl's hips, and the expressions that the girl was giving was just a tad too much for her to hold in her jealousy of the boy she was dancing with. She wanted that body to be pressed up against hers. She wanted to be the one holding Yumi and dancing with. To see Yumi dancing with someone else in such a sexual manner that she was beginning to lose all of her control. Back at the club she couldn't quite fully see how Yumi would move, the only thing that was pulling Sachiko to the younger girl was some kind of force. Now that she had seen how that body could move, she couldn't help but feeling jealous. Oh, she could feel that rage was in there somewhere as well.

When the song was nearing to an end, God knows how Sachiko knew that it was, she started to relax...well somewhat. There was still another song and she wasn't sure whether she would start to feel jealous again. Well, only time will tell if she was able to wait.

"I heard that Yumi picked the song," Youko softly spoke up as the group finished their song and dance while the crowd applaud them.

"She did?" Sachiko asked in surprise.

"Yes, she did," Youko replied as she flashed her petite soeur a knowing grin. "You might like it."

Sachiko wasn't sure why but her heart began to beat loudly in her chest. Was this a sign that the song Yumi had picked would be some kind of message to get across to her? Wait, why would she think that Yumi had her in mind while she decided to pick a song to perform? The first song that the group had performed was just to get the crowd started; and boy it did the job _perfectly_ well. Now, would Yumi get the crowd to heat some more or would she ease the heat with some...love songs? Sachiko mentally chided herself for thinking that Yumi would even sing a love song for her. Then again, her hope was getting a tad too high tonight.

The heiress watched as Yumi grabbed the offered microphone from Hibiki as the latter moved toward the back. It was then that she noticed the rest of the group had disappeared into the backstage and Yumi was the only one on the stage. However, Yumi didn't look surprise at all. When the crew came back with instruments and an amp, she soon realized what they were going to do with wide, surprised eyes. Apparently, she was getting a lot of surprises tonight.

"They sing, they dance _and_ they can play instruments," Yoshino said in astonishment. "Wow! I wouldn't mind dating _any_ of them!" A sharp cough emitting from beside her made her chuckle in nervousness. "I guess I'll just take that back...hehe..."

"Thank you for supporting us through our first song," Yumi said through the microphone and was rewarded with a cheer. "As you can see we are setting our instruments up to play the next song since there won't be any dancing." Disappoints and protests could be heard from every corner of the hall and Yumi giggled. "You all might like the second song though because...well...I wrote it," the brunette giggled nervously as she scratched the back of her head.

"We're ready whenever you are, Yumi-san!" Yuujiro called out from behind her as he took up the position of playing the bass while Kanade with the guitar, Hibiki with the keyboard, Toru with the drums and Yuuki with another guitar.

Yumi nodded her head to the group before she turned and smiled cheerfully at the crowd below. "And here is our second song and present for Ogasawara Sachiko-sama," she then paused and searched the crowd, her brown orbs quickly landed on the sapphire ones. What she said next was a whisper, but thanked to the microphone it could be heard. "I hope you'd like it, Sachiko-sama." Her voice returned to normal again as she announced the song. "The song is called Beautiful Soul. Please relax and enjoy the song."

* * *

_Song - _ Heartbeat by Enrique Iglesias (I can never spell his last name e_e)

_Author Notes - _I'm pretty sure that you all know what Yumi is going to sing, right? :P So this might not be such bad cliffhanger after all hehe. And yes, they sing, they dance and they play instruments! Only because they are so cool ~ And so pretty ~ And stuff ~


	10. Chapter 10

**[ Chapter 10 ]**

Yumi knew that they only had several of days before Sachiko's birthday party. She also knew that she hadn't quite picked a song to sing in front of Sachiko and everyone yet. Apparently she was going to be the one to sing last, and whatever song that she was going to choose was going to be fine for the group since they could always find a way to work around it. The only problem was the song and she had seen it first-hand how hard it was to pick a song. Hibiki and Kanade had literally 'battled' it out as to which song was more suitable to sing and perform in front of all the aristocrats. Kanade had thought 'You're My Only Shorty' would be a great song since it was upbeat and fun. However, Hibiki had thought that choosing a more sensual song to dance to would be more fun than singing a happy song. In the end Hibiki's idea won out since she had the back up of Yuujiro and Toru. Apparently, they just wanted to get the crowd rile up and be on the edges of their seats. While both Yumi and Kanade didn't care about the eyes that would be ogling them while they perform, Yuuki was.

"Yumi, are you sure that you want to do this?" Yuuki asked as he looked at his sister with worries in his eyes.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" Yumi asked, clearly confused as to why Yuuki was looking worried. No, by the expression that he was giving, he was clearly uncomfortable with the song Hibiki had picked out and the dance routine she had gotten everyone to do.

"Well...because..." Yuuki began, trying to think up of a good excuse but failed, so he settled with the truth. "Perverted eyes will be looking at your body as you move."

Yumi blinked before she giggled behind her hand. "I suppose that cannot be helped. But you should also know that Hibiki and Kanade's bodies are more mature than mine."

Yuuki blushed as he faced his head to look at the wall. "Yours are mature too, Onee-chan."

"Hmmm?" Yumi hummed as she watched her brother in amusement. "Are you saying that you would only allow your eyes to be on my body and not those perverted eyes?"

Blushing at full blow, Yuuki snorted as he made a face. "As if! You're my sister so I'm just being the protective brother, that's all!"

Yumi chuckled. "Thank you, Yuuki. You know, I won't be singing the first song so I would doubt I would draw attention to myself on the stage."

On the night of Sachiko's party, Yumi couldn't help but felt how wrong she was when she had uttered those words to Yuuki. She had chosen her song and the group had all decided to back her up by playing the instruments while she'd be the main vocalist. That didn't quite stop the feeling of eyes gluing onto her as she danced to the first song. Of course, she had danced like this as the same club in town but she had never experienced the eyes watching her every move. She felt as if she was an exhibit but all of that seemed to change when she had caught sight of the sapphire eyes watching her. Well, she didn't know where that had come from but if it was Sachiko, she knew that the raven hair beauty was watching her and only her. And the thought of moving her body sensually around Toru while Sachiko watched got her to fluster. She didn't know what the older girl was thinking, but just like in the club she thought that she could put up a show for Sachiko. After all, how much more could she tease the girl in showing what the raven hair beauty would be missing if she'd to choose her duty over happiness?

When the first song was over and the rest of the crew only managed to catch their breath for a few seconds before they were off to gather up the instruments. So to keep the crowd engaged to her and the group, she took a couple of steps forward and stood in front of the stage while trying her best to keep calm. She was nervous and if anyone that could see how her body was trembling slightly, they could tell. Fortunately for her only the ones that were on stage with her could see that. They couldn't help her to ease the nervousness that she was feeling though, so she had to try her best to get over it and sing the song that she had written. At least she wasn't nervous because there were a lot of people watching her. She was nervous because the song she had written up was meant for Sachiko. And if, by some small chance, the song could reach Sachiko's heart and break whatever devotion she had with her duty and choose Yumi, then she'd be more than happy to know that her hope of the girl returning her feelings in full wouldn't be in vain.

Yumi looked over her shoulder and grinned at Toru, signalling with her grin that she was ready. Toru grinned back at her as he raised his two drumsticks. After counting down the beat, the instruments were then being brought to life as Yumi quickly turned and sang the intro.

_I don't want another pretty face,_

_I don't want just anyone to hold,_

_I don't want my love to go to waste,_

_I want you and your beautiful soul,_

_You're the one I wanna chase,_

_You're the one I wanna hold,_

_I won't let another minute go to waste,_

_I want you and your beautiful soul,_

When her brown orbs connected with the crowd once more, Yumi didn't waste any time as she instantly found the girl that she was gazing at. When she saw the sapphire eyes gazing back at her, she knew that her nervousness wasn't going to go anywhere soon. She hoped that the intro that she had just sung would at least move Sachiko a bit. Besides, it sounded almost just like a love confession but through a song. She wondered though if anyone would be able to pick up that she was clearly, and irrevocably, in love with the beautiful Ogasawara heiress. If they could, what would they say to her? Would she be looked down upon? She couldn't afford to think about it right now.

_I know that you are something special,_

_To you I'd be always faithful,_

_I want to be what you always needed,_

_Then I hope you see the heart in me,_

Yes, Sachiko was something special and she just couldn't quite place her fingers on it. She felt connected to the older girl as if she had been separated from her for far too long. She wondered the action that she showed – the kiss – to Sachiko that night would be any indication to the older woman that she had fallen in love with her. There was no one that could make her heart beat faster, and then slower, at the same time. At first she didn't know why she had become frustrated when Sachiko had spoken about her family obligations. However after that kiss it had confirmed that she was, indeed, in love with the girl.

_You might need time to think it over,_

_But I'm just fine moving forward,_

_If you give the chance,_

_I will never make you cry, c'mon let's try,_

Some time ago Yumi wouldn't be able to express her feelings. She hadn't even thought of relying on her many facial expressions to help her out but they did anyway. Apparently, her thoughts had always shown up on her face whether she was aware of that or not. Over the time she had learned to express her feelings through words rather than through her emotions. Her self-esteem was gradually fading but not to the extent that it would be completely gone. She wasn't also a bold person, the kind of bold person that would actually claim Sachiko's lips without asking for the other permission first. Maybe she was lucky that Sachiko felt the same way when she had kissed her. Or maybe Sachiko was just too shock to even push her away. Either way, she was just lucky that she could feel those soft, luscious lips whether or not it would be the last time. But now, while singing this song, she could feel that maybe being bold wasn't going to help her with anything if the other girl would refuse to accept her love.

_Am I crazy for wanting you?_

_Maybe do you think if you could want me to?_

_I don't want to waste your time,_

_Do you see things the way I do?_

_I just wanna know that you feel it to,_

_There is nothing left to hide,_

Maybe that it was crazy for her to want the heiress of the Ogasawara clan. Well, that much was crazy at least. She wasn't famous nor was she rich. She was just someone that had managed to make quite a lot of money through her photography. Also, she was just someone that had a CEO as a brother, although the Fukuzawa Company wasn't as big as the Ogasawara. So, although Sachiko might want her despite all of that, would her family accept her? When she had written this part of the song, Yumi had almost felt like she should just give up the chase when she realized that not only was she was wasting her time, but she was wasting Sachiko's time as well. If the girl couldn't even call her up to invite her to this party herself, then what was there to think about the whole situation that she had gotten the both of them in?

_I don't want another pretty face,_

_I don't want just anyone to hold,_

_I don't want my love to go to waste,_

_I want you and your beautiful soul,_

_Oooh beautiful soul,_

_Your beautiful soul,_

_Yeah._

Yumi concluded the song, not once did she take her eyes off of the raven hair beauty throughout the song. She had felt like she was only singing to Sachiko, and Sachiko alone but when the crowd broke out into cheers and applauses, her surroundings appeared back into her senses. She had got through the song and she was quite happy with it. The crowd had also liked it, so that was one of the two good results that she had been hoping to see. The last result would be the reaction of Sachiko. Well, if she was able to see the girl at all.

"Thank you so much for being an amazing audience!" Yumi said cheerful as she waved a hand at the crowd. Then pretending that she didn't see where Sachiko was standing, her eyes began to search the crowd before shrugging her shoulders. "I hope that you enjoy this little performance that we put up for you, Sachiko-sama! And happy birthday!"

Yumi left the stage then after setting the microphone back where they belonged. She joined up with Hibiki and Kanade as they walked to the changing rooms. If they could stay in the outfits that they had then they would, but because this party was formal they couldn't. The guys had it so much easier than them and, just for tonight, they were jealous of them. While the boys only took a couple of minutes to get ready, the girls were still in the changing room undressing. Once the boys were out and mingling with the other guests, the girls had just finished undressing.

Yumi had decided to go with a white flowing gown, wearing white loopholes earrings and a couple of white bangles on her left wrist. She had her hair tied up in a ponytail and to finish her whole look, she worn a pair of white heels. If Yumi looked beautiful in just her casuals and nightclub clothes, then in this dress she looked absolutely stunning. Hibiki and Kanade weren't too far behind. Hibiki was wearing a stunning red cocktail dress with a little black bow tied around her neck. The ponytails remained, including the sneakers but she still looked beautiful, even more so now that she was actually in a dress. Kanade had a light yellow dress that gone passed her knees. The dress hugged every womanly curve of hers and since it was a strapless dress, anyone could clearly see a little bit of her cleavage if she wasn't hiding some of it with a light yellow scarf. At least she didn't have to change her shoes like Yumi did; she was still wearing the same yellow heels that she had been on the stage.

"You know Yumi," Kanade started as her emerald eyes roamed over the shorter girl's body. Clearly, she was appreciating what she was seeing, and she could tell that her girlfriend; Hibiki, was too. "You look like you want someone to pick you up, toss you on the bed and have their wicked ways with you."

Yumi blushed furiously as she shot a glare at Kanade but failed. "Maybe you should look at Hibiki in that way."

"Me?" Hibiki chuckled in amusement. "I don't dress up for her."

Kanade sighed as she shook her head in a feign exasperation. "And yet, I dress up for her just so she can jump me whenever we're alone."

"Too much information you two!" Yumi exclaimed, her whole face was burning in embarrassment. She clearly didn't want to listen to what the two women did in their alone time. Not to mention, she was already embarrassed that they were ogling her like she was something to eat. When she picked the dress and the look, she didn't think that she would get this kind of reaction from the two women. God, she couldn't even imagine what kind of reaction she would get when she walked into the party hall. She didn't have to wonder for long, unfortunately.

Yumi entered the dancing hall and it was as if everyone had stopped talking at her appearance. She could hear the two girls next to her giggling when they noticed that everyone's eyes were on Yumi. Yumi, on the other way, could tell that her whole body – from head to toes – was burning up in embarrassment. She had never received this many attention before in her life. Yet, here she was, at Sachiko's birthday party no less, had stolen the heiress' spotlight. So gathering all of the courage that she had left, Yumi descended the small steps and joined in with the crowd. Even though she was walking toward where her brother and two male friends were standing with idiotic grins on their faces, she could feel eyes following her. Once she reached her destination she immediately let herself fall into her brother's embrace, her hands clutching at his black vest.

"I think I'm suffocating," Yumi said as she tried to relax but to no avail. "Are they still looking at me?"

"Only half," Yuuki replied with laughter in his tone.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Yumi frowned as she pulled away from Yuuki. "And I thought you want to protect me."

Yuuki chuckled in amusement. "Well, I do want to protect you but when you appear to look like that," he paused for a second to gesture to the dress that she was wearing. "My power of protecting you fails in that department."

Yumi pouted as she playfully hit him in the arm as he laughed some more. She soon joined in but after a while stopped, sighing. "I felt like I was taking Sachiko-sama's spotlight when they were all looking at me."

"Don't worry, she appreciated it." A voice spoke up and when the group turned to see who it was, Sei was grinning from ear to ear.

"Sei!" Hibiki said as she raised her hand up in the air as the older woman approached.

Sei chuckled as she raised her hand up as well, giving Hibiki a high-five. "Hey Hibiki," she said, winking at the younger girl before she turned to Kanade and smiled at her. "And you too, Kanade."

Yumi just looked at the three women interacting with each other as if they were long-term friends. She then raised an eyebrow at them when they caught her looking. The three then chuckled at her curious expression. Yumi decided to just leave it be. After all, her friends weren't causing too much trouble at Sachiko's party like the other party they had gone to. She watched as they interacted together, even when the rest of Sachiko's friends turned up as well. She didn't even think that Yuujiro and Toru would go straight to Shimako again, but they did anyway. Except...Toru was trying his best to charm Yoshino and Yuujiro with Shimako. Just one look at the taller boyish blonde standing next to Yoshino, she could tell that she was on the edge of kicking Toru's ass out of the hall. She didn't know how the girl could hold in her rage, because she wouldn't have minded if Toru would get his ass handed to him.

Finally decided that she should intervene with his flirting, even though Yoshino seemed to be enjoying the attention that she was getting, Yumi moved in behind him and tapped on his shoulder. Toru turned and looked at her before he started to pale a little. Yumi was folding her arms, her eyes were speaking of all the bad things she would want to do with him if he wouldn't stop, and a frown in place. Toru quickly turned to Yoshino, taking a bow and hurried off to another part of the party just to get away from Yumi. Yumi just watched him go and sighed with a shake of her head.

"Aww, Yumi-san, that wasn't fair!" Yoshino pouted as she looked at the brunette in front of her.

"You're getting his hopes up, Yoshino-san," Yumi replied softly. "And I don't want him to get hurt by Rei-sama."

Yoshino blinked before she turned to look at the tall girl next to her. When the latter looked down, meeting her eyes, Yoshino let out a nervous chuckle before she quickly turned and smiled at Yumi. "Thank you, Yumi-san...I think."

Yumi waved her hand dismissively as she smiled at the other girl, wasn't sure if the latter wouldn't get into too much trouble. She then moved back from the group, just watching them interacting with one another. She didn't have a clue where Toru was but she didn't care either. It wasn't her job to babysit an overgrown man anyway. Besides, he most likely had gotten another girl to flirt him. Sometimes she worried about Yuujiro and Toru because they both only wanted to flirt with girls, and never taken any serious steps toward any girl that they had met. It was as if the two men were afraid of not having any time to spend with her and the rest of the group. Perhaps they needed a talk? Yumi quickly shook the thought away. 'They are grown men,' she thought, 'they can decide for themselves.'

Yumi was lost in the many conversations that she was tuning in and out of, not noticing that there was a presence moving closer to her. She came to when she felt a familiar presence behind her. Yumi didn't have time to turn around when she felt two pair of hands on either side of her upper arms. Instinctively, she relaxed herself when she felt the warmth from the all too familiar hands radiating through her. It was as if all the walls that she had been building up collapsed just by a simple touch. Yes, she had felt these hands before, but not enough to her liking. Yes, she knew exactly whose hands they belonged to, and yes she had missed the contact immensely.

"Sachiko-sama," Yumi let the heiress' name fell to her lips as she felt herself being turned around about the beautiful heiress. When their eyes met again that night, she tried her best to show all of her emotions through her brown orbs so Sachiko could see how she felt about her, and how much she had suffered from their last encounter. When Yumi gazed back into those endless pools of sapphire orbs, she could see the turmoil within those eyes, the hurt, the pain and the indecisiveness. However, the longer that they gazed at each other, the less she could see of that indecisiveness and the pain, but the turmoil was there.

"Yumi," Sachiko breathed in her name and, it may be just her imagination, she could see from the corner of her eyes that Sachiko's hand had twitched to reach up to cup her cheek but didn't. Maybe it was wistful thinking that Sachiko would actually show her affection toward her in front of all these people.

As if fate had it for them, Yumi heard a cough from beside her. She broke out from Sachiko's gaze all too quickly and looked over at who had just caught her attention. There stood a tall, handsome looking man with the silkiest of dark locks. His dark azure eyes locked onto hers with a kind smile. She watched as he offered out his hand toward her and as if her body had a mind of its own, she raised her hand and gently put it into his palm as he grasped it gently. He then lowered his hand, raising their grasped hands up to his lips, and placed a small, soft kiss upon the back of her hand.

"It is an honor to have finally met you, Yumi-chan," the male spoke softly as he straightened himself up, releasing her hand. "My name is Kashiwagi Suguru, Sachiko's fiancée."

Trying her best not to frown, Yumi nodded her head and placed a fake smile upon her face. What she didn't notice was the venom in her tone when she spoke to him. "It is a pleasure to meet you in person, Suguru-kun."

Suguru chuckled, amused at the girl before him before he turned to Sachiko with a grin. "She's a feisty one, Sa-chan. You better keep her or she'll slip out from your grasp without you knowing." With that he excused himself and walked off to talk to the other guests.

Yumi watched him go, finally letting the frown on her face appeared. Truth be told, she was throwing daggers at his back with her eyes. She had a murderous intent look in her eyes and she didn't know that the others could feel the murderous aura that she was giving off to. Fortunate, just a soft squeeze from Sachiko's hand was enough to diminish that raging fire within her. Yumi sighed and as she was about to turn to look at Sachiko, she saw a pair of drill brunette pigtails approaching her brother. Curiosity took over and she watched as the two of them interacted. They both had a happy smile and a blush on their faces. It was then that she realized who the girl was, and she couldn't help but smile at them.

"I wonder what Yumi is smiling about," Sachiko spoke softly as she watched Yumi, smiling for a different reason.

"Yuuki and Matsudaira-san," Yumi replied, the smile never leaving her lips. "I'm happy that Yuuki has finally found someone worth chasing after."

"Touko-chan?" Sachiko spoke and out of curiosity, she turned to look at where Yumi was looking. She, too, smiled and nodded. "Touko-chan hasn't stopped talking to me about a certain man that she has met. I've never thought that it would be Yuuki-kun."

That was when Yumi turned to look up at the woman that she had fallen in love with. Her eyes traced the outline of Sachiko's face before they zoned in on the latter's luscious red lips. After a few seconds she looked up and found those sapphire eyes staring at her. She blushed after knowing she had been caught staring. "So...um...did you like the songs we perform?"

Sachiko nodded, smiling down at her. "Yes, I love them." When Yumi smiled brightly at her, something inside Sachiko was slowly breaking down. It was a good thing at least, since she now had the courage to ask Yumi something that she wouldn't have done at her own party. "Will you take a walk with me, Yumi?"

Instead of giving the taller girl an immediate answer, Yumi searched in those sapphire eyes if she should give her a positive answer or not. She didn't know if she could when she had heard it. It was as if she was going to receive another rejection, though after finding what she wanted to see in those eyes, the thought had quickly been brushed away. She saw nothing but hope and fear in Sachiko's eyes. She didn't know what Sachiko was afraid but she had to take a good guess that the latter feared she might reject her from this small request. And the hope, well, the situation spoke for itself.

Smiling, Yumi nodded and found her hand intertwined with the ones of her love. "Yes, I would love to."

She found herself being led outside the party hall and into the darkest of the night. Yumi didn't care where she was going, as long as she was with Sachiko then she was happy. All she could think of was Sachiko, and if Sachiko wasn't there she had to keep herself busy by observing everyone around her. That was something that she didn't want to do, especially when she knew that if she wanted to she could always go and find Sachiko. Luck had been on her side when Sachiko found herself to her, and she was all the more thankful of that. Now, luck had been on her side once more when she figured out that Sachiko was leading her into a garden. Despite the cold night breeze, she felt warm. Sachiko's presence was enough to warm her even though her body protested otherwise.

"Are you cold, Yumi?" Sachiko's soft voice spoke up after minutes of silent. She could feel the coldness seeping through Yumi's hand and into her own, and she was worried about the girl's health.

"No."

"Your hand is cold," Sachiko said, frowning as she stopped. She then turned to face Yumi before she placed another hand on Yumi's exposed arm. Gasping lightly after feeling just how cold the other girl's skin was, she started to warm up Yumi by rubbing the latter's skin with her own hand. "You're freezing, Yumi! Maybe we should go back inside."

Yumi's eyes widened in fear that Sachiko would leave her alone once they would get back inside. So without thinking further, she quickly launched herself into Sachiko's as her arms wrapped around the heiress' waist. Her arms tightened around latter's body as she shook her head furiously. "No! I don't want to go back! I just want to be alone with you!" She paused her outburst as she tilted her head up, looking into those surprised sapphire eyes. Unshed tears were glittering from the corner of her eyes as she quietly whispered in a desperate manner. "Is that...too much to ask?"

* * *

_Song - _Beautiful Soul by Jesse McCartney

_Author Notes - _To weltvent - I had a listen to the songs that you suggested and I just couldn't feel Yumi singing them to Sachiko. However, I do feel Sachiko singing them to Yumi if the story was reversed :)

The reason that I chose Beautiful Soul as Yumi song is because the song is beautiful. It promises a lot and it makes it seems that Yumi is faithful, which she is, and that she is willing to keep chase on Sachiko for as long as she could even though she feels like she's wasting her breath. I had gone through quite a few songs until I came to this one to be honest. At first I wanted Yumi to sing Don't Let Me Fall by Lenka, then With You by Jessica Simpson, then Obsessed by BoA and Impossible by Shontelle. I had to listen to Beautiful Soul and With You over and over until Beautiful Soul won out. It's really hard to pick the right song for these two D:


	11. Chapter 11

**[ Chapter 11 ]**

The only thing that she could think about, repeatedly in her mind, was _'She written this song for me?'_ Sachiko couldn't really believe her ears as she listened to the words that had been sung out. She had thought that Yumi would have written something that would make her feel bad for rejecting her, but she had never thought Yumi would write something that was as close to a love confession. Then again, didn't they go pass that on the night that both of their worlds had almost crashed? Sachiko couldn't see anything in herself that the brunette would still be keeping up the chase of her. Yumi was just too good to be true, and she didn't know what she had done to meet this angel.

While Yumi sang with her eyes locked onto Sachiko's own, all they could see was each other while everyone else faded away. Sachiko, though far, could see herself reflecting in those brown orbs. It was when that Yumi had reached another different verse that her eyes widened a little. The words '_Am I crazy for wanting you'_ shot through her heart as if Cupid was lecturing her about what was right and what was wrong. It was those words that got her into thinking if it was alright after all to want the brunette. Her obligations for the Ogasawara flashed before her eyes then, and she didn't hesitate to brush away those obligations. Tonight was her night and she was determined to have a good time. However, what would happen the next day? Surely, not every day would be her day.

The song ended and she couldn't help but joined in the applauses, not realizing that a tear had made its way out from her eyes and down her chin. When she felt a soft hand caressing her cheek, she was startled by it and turned to meet the eyes of her Onee-sama, Youko. The latter smiled at her in understanding and as if reading her mind, Youko spoke gently. "Don't be afraid of asking for what you want, Sachiko. It is better to risk it all rather than to stay back and wonder 'What if' for the rest of your life."

Sachiko nodded her head in understanding. She understood exactly what Youko was saying. She just couldn't believe that she had to wait for this long for someone to give her an advice that she should have figured out herself. She had never waited for someone to tell her what to do, or to advice her on what to do. She always had everything figure out and she always provided herself with her own answers and solutions. This was the first, however, for her to rely on someone to give her a direction in which she should take on. She couldn't turn back, not when she was so very sure of her feelings for a certain petite brunette. She couldn't even avoid it any longer unless she wanted to suffer the pain that she had put herself in. She could only move forward and accept her fate, the newly found fate that the Virgin Mary had given her. She couldn't let go off of this angel. Not now, and not ever.

"Do you think they'll be wearing the same outfits?" Yoshino asked in wonder. "That it would be kind of nice except that they would stand out too much."

"You just want to be in their positions, Yoshino-san," Eriko said with a playful chuckle. "Besides, they'd do much better than you."

Annoyed, the braided pig-tailed girl turned to look at her grande soeur with pouting lips. "Is that how you encourage your petite soeur's soeur, Eriko-sama?"

Eriko put a finger on her lower lip with a thoughtful expression. "Mmm, I wonder..."

Yoshino's reaction to that was too much for the older brunette as she started to laugh. However, she did not expect Yoshino to comment about her husband, Yamanobe, to not be here and chain her down. That was her cue to pick fun of Yoshino while the latter got frustrated and pissed off since she couldn't find an opening to verbally defeat Eriko in her own game. Their little playful banter was short lived when Yumi emerged in a gorgeous white gown. While her companions, Hibiki and Kanade, looked absolutely gorgeous as well, all eyes were on Yumi. Despite the fact that almost all of the recipients in the hall had a partner, Yumi had turned out to be one of their deepest most fantasies when the brunette had sauntered out from behind the curtains, and descended the small steps. The gown hugged her every curve, which made it harder for people not to look at her assets as she seemed to be gliding on the surface. While the former Yamayurikai members had no problem appreciating the view, Sachiko felt like someone was burning her alive.

'_Breathe, Sachiko...Just breathe,'_ Sachiko mentally chided herself as she watched Yumi sashayed from the corner of the stage down to the floor. She wasn't sure if she was lucky that Yumi had disappeared from her eyesight or she wasn't lucky that she no longer see that voluptuous body of Yumi. Once again, she felt like her body was on fire when the word '_voluptuous'_ crossed her mind. At least now she knew that there was no way she could let Yumi out of her life. If Yumi had that big of an effect on her life, then there was no way she would let the younger girl slip out from her fingers. It was then that she had made her mind up about keeping Yumi by her side. It was then that she didn't care about the consequences, she only cared about making Yumi hers.

She didn't notice when the Yumayurikai had left but she knew where they had gone off to. Unfortunately, she was stopped half way to her destination by her guests as they wished her a happy birthday, and soon after, talked to her about business. She couldn't get out of the business topic even for one night, so she wasn't surprised that even during her own birthday party they were here not to celebrate her birth but to talk business with her. When she had finally managed to get out of it, she went straight to where she had seen a glimpse of that beautiful white gown. She was a little surprise when she saw Yumi standing not too far from the chattering group, observing them. However, she wasn't surprise when she heard a faint whisper of her name when she made her presence known by placing both of her hands on either side of Yumi's forearms. When she had turned Yumi to face her after breathing out her name, she wanted to caress that soft cheek of Yumi's but restrained herself from doing so. At that moment she was content with just gazing down at the younger girl. Her contentment was cut short when her fiancée showed up, and she tried her best not to shoot him down with her glare.

Sachiko then watched as he interacted with Yumi. She could see amusement dancing within those azure orbs. When Yumi spoke, the coldness in her tone sent a shiver down her spine...and that shiver wasn't the pleasant kind. She never heard Yumi using this kind of tone whenever she was with her. She had always viewed Yumi to be this innocent, sweet girl that wouldn't even hurt a fly. Well this side of Yumi didn't change her view of Yumi at all. The brunette was still this sweet, innocent girl that she had met but now with a sexy yet scary side of her. When Suguru had spoken to her about keeping Yumi and not letting her go, she shot him a look as if to tell him to mind his own business before he excused himself and walked off. Finally, she was once again alone with Yumi. Well, not quite alone but the girl was standing next to her and that was just fine for her.

Sachiko turned to look at Yumi, wanting to ask her if she would want to take a short walk but stopped when she saw Yumi's gaze on something or someone else. The smile on the younger girl's lips was enough to tell her that whoever Yumi was looking at, she was fond of them. She was confused as to why she wasn't feeling jealous that Yumi was smiling fondly to whoever she was looking. Not to mention, she didn't even turn to look at who Yumi was smiling at. So she only asked her why she was smiling, and after the girl had answered, it was her turn to look and smile at what she was seeing. There was Touko standing before Yuuki, talking to him. She couldn't remember how the two of them had met; it was so long ago after all. Then something clicked. She remembered Touko telling her about a certain guy that she had met and couldn't stop thinking about. She also remembered her whining and complaining about her hectic schedules that she didn't have time to search for the guy. Well, it turned out that this guy was Yuuki and Touko had finally met up. She could only hope that they would exchange numbers so that Touko wouldn't be calling and whining to her how hard it was to not be able to see Yuuki again.

"So...um...did you like the songs we perform?"

She heard Yumi asked after she had turned to gaze down at the lovely woman beside her. She paused to think about her answers for a moment. Of course, she loved the songs that she had heard and seen from the group, though she loved each of them with a different reason. The first song that she had heard was something that she could find herself to love dancing to...with Yumi of course. She was only paying half of her attention to the lyrics though because it was difficult not to pay Yumi her full attention when she was dancing so sensually. Yes, she only loved that song because she got to see Yumi perform, and – of course – learned how flexible the girl was. The second song had scored a place in her heart, a place that she would be treasuring any song that Yumi would want to sing to her. It wouldn't even have to be a love song, Sachiko was content to hear anything that Yumi would want to sing. After all, that place was reserved for Yumi's voice, while the rest of her heart was reserved for the girl alone.

"Yes, I love them," she finally answered the girl with the tenderness in her tone. When Yumi smiled brightly up at her, she knew that it was about time she would ask for a second chance. "Will you take a walk with me, Yumi?"

Sachiko waited for an answer when she didn't receive it instantly. While Yumi was gazing at her, she didn't know what it was that the girl was trying to find. Her defences were slowly building up in case she would get rejected. In truth she didn't know how she would handle the rejection. She had never received a rejection to her simple request before. Of course, the rejection that she had received from Suguru for returning the same love as she had felt back then didn't count. They were just teenagers after all. Plus, the rejection from Shimako of becoming her petite soeur was only half of the pain that she had felt the night before with Yumi. It was as if she had taken Yumi's rejection to the highest level, if Yumi was to reject her.

"Yes, I would love to," Yumi answered and that was all that she needed to hear.

Sachiko grabbed Yumi's hand and quickly pulled the girl along with her. Birthday party or not, she didn't really care. As long as she was with Yumi, alone, at this moment then she didn't heed any mind to anyone that would be looking for her at her own party. After all, it was her parents that had planned the party, not her. So if anyone wanted something regarding to the Ogasawara Company, they could just go straight to her father. The man was the head of the Ogasawara family and company after all. Today was her birthday and she was free to do whatever that she wanted. Hopefully, she'd get to say what would be very important to her to the woman following behind her.

Despite the night breeze, she didn't feel cold at all thanks to her jacket. However, she was beginning to worry about Yumi since the girl didn't even have a jacket on. She didn't need to feel Yumi's shivering hand within her grasp to know. So after asking if the girl was cold, she had to frown when Yumi had denied that she was. She honestly couldn't figure out why Yumi would lie about something as simple as being cold. So she had stopped, turned around and placed a hand on the girl's arm only to gasp at the sudden cold skin she had touched.

"You're freezing, Yumi! Maybe we should go inside."

She had exclaimed but she didn't expect Yumi to fall into hysterical. No, she didn't even see that Yumi had launched herself at her. Sachiko was quick to balance herself when she caught the girl in her arms, hysterically telling her that she didn't want to go back. While the younger girl continued her outburst, Sachiko just gazed down warmly at her with her arms wrapped around the brunette. It felt so right for Yumi to be in her arms, even though the situation wasn't all that romantic at all. It didn't really matter. The only thing that mattered was how _amazingly_ good to have Yumi in her arms. So when Yumi looked up with unshed tears in her eyes, and whispered in such a desperate tone if she was asking too much for wanting to be alone with her, Sachiko could only freed a hand to wipe away the tear that had escaped the girl's eyes before gently shaking her head.

"No, you're not asking too much, Yumi," Sachiko responded as she began to lower her head. She paused just when she knew if she was to continue, their lips would touch, but lord she knew she wanted to taste those lips again but she had to control herself at the moment. "I think I'm the one asking too much from you," she whispered. "You're cold and all I can think about is having one night to be with you."

Yumi just stared at her, speechless while her mouth was slightly opened.

Sachiko couldn't hold herself back much longer, so with one slow motion, she closed the small gap between them and claimed Yumi's lips. She had already made her decision and she wanted Yumi to know it, whether it was through her actions or through words she didn't care. She felt Yumi's lips curling into a smile before the girl returned the kiss. _'So this is what bliss feels like,'_ Sachiko mused as their lips began a slow dance. They didn't want to take it too fast, though they knew that their bodies thought otherwise. It was all about control and she didn't want to slip, not yet. She wanted to take things slow – if she could – since she knew that she wasn't as free as Yumi was. She just didn't want the other girl to have her hope up just because she was choosing her over her family. She didn't want Yumi to be disappointed if she became busier than usual to even go out and meet her.

Both girls pulled apart from oxygen were needed. Their foreheads touched one another, their breath mingled and they both had smiles on their faces. Yumi's body didn't feel cold anymore, not when she was wrapped up in Sachiko's warm and loving embrace. Also, the sweet, simple kiss that they just shared was enough to ignite a fire within her. Yumi knew that if even she was naked at that moment, she wouldn't feel cold at all.

"Yumi," Sachiko whispered lovingly as her eyes gazed into the warm brown orbs.

"Sachiko-sama," Yumi whispered back just as lovingly. Her face then conjured up into confusion as she watched a small frown transpired into Sachiko's beautiful features.

"Drop the 'sama', Yumi," Sachiko said before replacing her frown with a playful smirk. "Or I will leave you here in the cold."

Yumi pulled her face away from Sachiko as she regarded the taller girl with a raised eyebrow. "You know I can find my way back right, Sachiko-_sama_?" She asked playfully, her eyes challenging the latter to make a move.

"Oh, can you?" Sachiko said as she slowly pulled away from Yumi and chuckled when the latter protested by tightening her grip around her waist. "I think your arms refuse to comply with your words, Yumi."

Blushing, Yumi leaned back into Sachiko as she burrowed her face against the latter's chest. "Curse them," she mumbled. A smile then graced her lips when she heard Sachiko's heart beating against her ears. The beat was fast, it sounded like it wanted to bust itself out of Sachiko's chest and into her hands. At least Yumi felt the same way as well because her heart was beating just as fast as Sachiko's at that moment.

Sachiko tightened her hold around the smaller girl, smiling in contentment as she watched Yumi's face broke out into a smile. She could only guess what Yumi was thinking about and she so wanted to hear the same heart beat inside Yumi's chest, just as Yumi was hearing from hers. Then remembering why she had asked Yumi to come out here, she cleared her throat softly just to catch the girl attention. When Yumi looked up at her, she raised a hand to gently caress the soft cheek. The simple action brought an adorable blush from the younger girl, and her smile widened.

"I'm not asking you to come out here just because you can glue your body to mine, Yumi," Sachiko said then chuckled as Yumi pursed up her lips into an adorable pout. "Don't get me wrong, I do like it," she quickly said and once again chuckled when Yumi beamed up at her. _'She's just like a puppy!'_ "I'm asking you out here because I've been thinking about that night."

Yumi frowned slightly. "That night?"

Sachiko nodded. "Yes, the night where I told you that we couldn't be together because of my social status, my engagement to my cousin and you kissing me before leaving me alone in the studio with a lot of delicious wine."

Yumi's face fell. "Wait...you don't mean...you stayed the night there while drowning all of those wine?" When Sachiko only looked at her she knew the answer. "I'm sorry! I really didn't know what I was thinking back then!"

Sachiko chuckled as she shook her head. "It's alright. Kanade-san took care of me with the help from Hibiki-san." When Yumi let out a sigh of relief, she continued. "Anyway, I've finally realized my mistake and I hope that you would forgive me for what I said."

"I do forgive you," Yumi spoke softly. "I can't stay mad at you for long, no matter how hard I try. You're always on my mind whether you'd accept me or not. It's hard to shake you off, and it's not like I'd want to do that."

Sachiko giggled before bending down and placed a gentle kiss on the girl's forehead. "You're adorable, I hope you know that."

"I hope you don't just _like_ me because I'm adorable," Yumi pouted but a smile was on her face.

"So continue on with what I was saying before you've interrupted me with your adorable expression," Sachiko said and chuckled when Yumi poked her tongue out at her playfully. Oh how badly the raven hair beauty had wanted to just bend down and take that tongue into her mouth. Unfortunately, she wasn't done with the talking yet. "Will you give me another chance to be with you, Yumi?"

Yumi's smile turned into a grin, then it turned into a squeal as she nodded her head. "Of course! Of course!" She bounced in her spot, making Sachiko to bounce lightly with her as the heiress laughed at the action. "But," Yumi stopped bouncing and focused her eyes on Sachiko with a serious expression. "On one condition."

Sachiko regarded her for a moment before she nodded. "I will do anything if it doesn't tarnish the Ogasawara's name."

Yumi nodded, expecting that the heiress would say something like that. "Break off the engagement with Suguru."

It wasn't a question or a command. No, it was a request and Sachiko knew that whether Yumi was going to tell her to do it or not, she would have to do it if she was to be with Yumi. She didn't want to have to sneak out and about with Yumi. She wanted the world to know that she was very lucky to have found an angel. She wanted her family to see that she was very much happy to have the said girl in her arms, and in her heart. There wasn't another person in the world that could make her feel so complete and she wanted the whole world to know that. At last, Ogasawara Sachiko had fallen in love and received the same love in return.

"I am already planning on it," Sachiko responded softly.

"Good, because I don't like him," Yumi replied with a frown. "He looks like a creep."

"Mmm, maybe I should postpone the wedding a little bit more just to see this jealous side of you," Sachiko said teasingly as she heard a slight gasp coming from her love.

"I'm only jealous because he has you first!" Yumi retorted.

"Yumi."

"Yes?"

"He bats for the other team," Sachiko said as she watched Yumi's face. First Yumi was confused, then she became slightly more confused before realization dawned on her. All of that happened less than a minute and she was vaguely fascinated by how fast Yumi could muster up those expressions without failing to look absolutely adorable.

"Oh!" Yumi exclaimed before giggling nervously. "I feel stupid for being jealous of him then."

"You shouldn't be," Sachiko replied softly as she drew Yumi closer to her before resting her chin atop the brunette's head. "Thanks to him I was able to get away from all the men that seemed to only have eyes on my body."

"Most of them are old," Yumi commented.

"Old enough to be my father," Sachiko added and the two shared a laugh. They were greeted with another cold freeze and despite being in each other's arms, they shivered at the cold. "Shall we head back now, Yumi?"

Yumi nodded. "Yes, Sachiko." She then smiled when she noticed Sachiko beaming down at her. She could only think the reason that the heiress did was because she didn't add any honorific in her name.

As Sachiko took hold of Yumi's hand and leading her back to the party once again, Yumi pressed herself into Sachiko's arm while she wrapped both of her arms around it. Sachiko just smiled as she felt the girl's body against her arm but said nothing. The silent was broken when Yumi mumbled something that she didn't quite catch.

"I'm sorry, Yumi, but can you repeat that?"

"You haven't told me about the whole '_Onee-sama'_ thing," Yumi spoke a little louder this time.

"Well then, how about you stay the night and I will tell you all about it?" Sachiko asked. Inside, she was begging to the Virgin Mary that Yumi would agree to stay the night. She didn't even know why she had asked her without thinking about it. It just slipped out of her mouth and now that it did, she couldn't really take it back. Not that she _would want_ to take it back, mind you. She just didn't want Yumi to think that she was moving a little too fast with their newfound relationship.

"Wouldn't I be a bother?" Yumi asked nervously. "I mean...I don't want to bother you and your family at all."

Breathing a little calmly now, Sachiko turned to look down at the girl that was latching onto her arm and shook her head before smiling. "No, not at all."

"Then of course, I would love to stay the night," Yumi said with a shy smile.

Once Sachiko and Yumi had returned to the party with radiant smiles on their faces, the guests had begun to wonder what had happened between the two girls. Only Yumi's friends and the Yamayurikai could only guess what had transpired between the two. Suguru could also guess what had happened and he couldn't be happier for his cousin. After all he wanted her to be happy, not lonely and miserable all the time. It was alright for him to feel that way, but he knew that soon he'd be able to find someone just like Sachiko had found her someone. The only problem was the Ogasawara elders. Tooru and Sayako were observing the two with curiosity. They had never seen Sachiko smile like that, and they had begun to question themselves if the girl that Sachiko was with would be suitable for their daughter.

* * *

_Author Notes - _ I'm surprised that I didn't make Sachiko jump Yumi right there, on the spot, in the cold. But I guess that would be completely OOC, wouldn't it? XD


	12. Chapter 12

**[ Chapter 12 ]**

It wasn't supposed to happen like that. She wasn't expecting to be invited to a formal dinner that only family members could attend to. She obviously wasn't expecting that. Yumi was definitely in trouble.

_The birthday party had ended but not to some. The former Roses and Yumi's crew were the only ones that were left when everyone else had gone home. This was what Yoshino had been looking for all of that night. The energetic braided pig-tailed girl didn't quite care about the formal party that the Ogasawara had put up. She only cared about celebrating Sachiko's birthday to the fullest. And the fullest that party shall be celebrated. As soon as the last guest that wasn't under the 'After Party Guest List' had left, Yoshino and Sei had immediately gone off somewhere that only the birthday girl would know. Sachiko had no say in the matter when she just wanted to satisfy her friends, and it wasn't like they would have the chance to go overboard while celebrating her birthday anyway. So the heiress had let those two do whatever it was that they were doing while she just waited with the rest of the crew._

"_Should I be worrying about this, Sachiko?" Yumi asked as she kept glancing at the door that Yoshino and Sei had gone in. She wasn't sure if she should be more worrying about her friends – especially the two pretty guys – or the somewhat after party that everyone was expecting._

"_I'm sure there's nothing to be worrying about, Yumi," Sachiko had responded to reassure the girl and she smiled when she noticed Yumi relaxed slightly. _

"_But it's Yoshino..." Rei started as she could feel a small sweat making its way down the side of her face._

"_And Sei..." Youko added as she sighed in defeat._

"_Working together to make the night a little more interesting," Eriko finished with an amused giggle. "Oh how I am looking forward to this."_

"_Will there be sake?" Toru asked as he raised his hand up as if he was asking for permission to speak. His words came up as slur as he gazed from one woman to another, feeling as if he was in his own harem._

"_You've had enough alcohol for the night, Toru-kun," Yumi said disapprovingly as she glared at him once his eyes landed on Sachiko. "I'm not sure who is going to help you get back to your apartment."_

"_Oh," Toru slurred out a reply as his eyes immediately landed on Shimako. "I know who I can grab home tonight."_

_Shimako, sensing that someone was looking at her in great desire that was making her uncomfortable, turned only to meet Toru's eyes. She didn't blush. She didn't even frown. Her angelic features were still intact as she opened her soft lips to respond to him. Her words, however, was colder than ever. "I suggest that you would reconsider that statement of yours before you regret it, Toru-kun."_

_Toru wasn't affected by the cold tone. Heck, Yumi could tell that he was already trying to reach for the moon while dragging Shimako along in his delusion. Yumi knew that when Toru was even slightly tipsy, he would act like a pervert and whatever you say to him, he would just brush it off until he would pass out from the amount of alcohol working in his system. Yuujiro was another story, unfortunately. Once the blonde guy got tipsy, he would be absolutely silent while studying everyone's features. It would take him quite a few moments before he would pump his fist in the air and declare his love for all the girls in the room. That exactly was he was doing at that moment. Kanade had to slap him upside the head several times to calm him down whenever he had an outburst. Yumi was very sure that Kanade was suffering from the soreness of his hard head. If she was she didn't show it, and it looked like the dirty blonde girl was enjoying slapping the senses out of Yuujiro too._

"_Sachiko, do you have duct tape at your home?" Yumi spoke up after having enough of her two friends' non-sense. She was slowly losing her sanity and if she had to listen to the two pretty guys being stupid again, she couldn't guarantee their safety._

_Sachiko turned and appraised her with curiosity. "Yes, why?"_

"_Please, can I have a roll?" Yumi asked, ignoring Sachiko's question as her eyes twitched as she continued to watch the two males. It would be nice if Yuuki could help her but he was too busy talking to his future love that he had barely paid any attention to the boys. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't even pay attention to her love when the two males were consistently trying to fry her brain cells._

_Sachiko looked at Yumi, worried before she ushered an attendant over to her. She asked her to bring her a roll of duct tape and watched as the maid walked off to get the item she had requested. A few minutes later the maid came back with it, and Yumi wasted no time to grab it and yanked it open. She exchanged a look with both Kanade and Hibiki and once the three of them nodded at one another, Kanade had quickly tackled Toru down and had both his hands behind his back, while Hibiki did the same with Yuujiro. Yumi had quickly moved into action as she ripped a piece of duct tape by using her teeth and placed it over Toru, before moving to Yuujiro to do the same thing to him. Then she wrapped the duct tape around both of the males' hands so that they wouldn't be able to pull the tape off of their mouths. When the work was done, three girls stepped back as they wiped their forehead from the invisible sweat that had built up there. Then they both closed their eyes with a content smile on their faces._

"_Yumi, can you hear that?" Kanade asked softly as she let out a sigh of contentment._

"_Yes, I can hear it, Kanade," Yumi replied, mimicking Kanade's action._

"_Ahh," Hibiki breathed out a sigh of contentment before she spoke softly. "Peace."_

_While the three girls were in their wonderland, the rest of the remaining girls were watching them with both amusement and confusion written on their faces. The two males that had been bound up by duct tape were struggling on the floor, screaming into the duct tape at the three girls and then at the observers as if to release them. Unfortunately for them the former Roses weren't sure if it would be a wise idea to release them. They hadn't seen Kanade, Yumi and Hibiki angry yet. If this was what they would do if something or someone had annoyed them, then they would rather be on the safe side and not piss the three girls off. It was then that Yuuki had paid attention to the group after not hearing the commotion around him. When he looked at the group and at the two guys struggling like an earthworm on the floor, he sighed and shook his head. Then he looked up at Yumi, his eyes slightly pleading into her closed ones._

"_Onee-chan..." Yuuki said pleadingly though his plead didn't quite reach his eyes. _

_Yumi raised her forefinger at him as if telling him to hold one moment. She took in a deep breath before letting it out. The action calmed her already calm posture as she opened her eyes and regarded him with a gentle smile. "No."_

"_But..." Yuuki started to protest but then flinched when Yumi yanked another duct tape at him, the smile still intact. Yes, right now, it was absolutely creepy to see that his own sister would use the same method against the struggling boys to him._

"_Would you like to join them, Yuuki?" Yumi asked softly, her smile was still as gently as ever._

_Yuuki began to back away as the other two girls had woken up from their wonderland and was looking at him with that...creepy gentle smile. The three girls slowly advanced toward him as he continuously taking a step back. Even in the group of three girls and three guys, the women had always won in any kind of situation. The boys had never won and they didn't mind about that, or maybe they did but they couldn't stand and fight with the three beautiful girls that they had gotten to be friends with. Somewhere in their minds, they had already put all the beautiful girls to be merciless just like the three girls that they had called their friends. _

_As if on cue, Yoshino and Sei returned with wide grins on their faces. However, the grins dropped as they caught the two boys rolling on the floor with duct tape on their mouths and around their wrists. Then they looked up to witness Kanade, Hibiki and Yumi advancing toward Yuuki with Yumi holding the said duct tape with a creepy smile on her face. The two had wondered if they had walked into the right room, but since the rest of the former Roses were staring at the scene with stifled giggles and fascinated expressions they knew that they had entered the right room. It was Yoshino that spoke up that had saved Yuuki from the three girls with his sister included._

"_Time out! Time. Out!" Yoshino shouted and once she got the three girls attention, she grinned before pointing her finger at them. "Put that duct tape roll away before I use it on the three of you! And you wouldn't like it if you have to miss out on tonight's _amazing_ event that Sei-sama and I had set up!"_

_The three girls blinked before they sighed and nodded in defeat. Yumi turned away from Yuuki and walked up to the maid that was watching the scene with a frozen expression. She then handed the duct tape over to the maid and quickly joined Sachiko's side once more. As if she was a puppy and Yoshino a cat, Yumi had wrapped her arms around Sachiko's arm as she rubbed her face against the heiress' soft skin with a little sob to add into the dramatic effect she was creating. Sachiko could only sigh as she raised her free hand and patted Yumi's head gently to comfort the girl. The heiress knew that Yumi enjoyed it because if the latter had a tail, it would be wagging in happiness._

"_Come on, let's go up to the big room!" Yoshino announced before skipping over to Rei and grabbing her by the hand, then pulling her out of the room. Sei did the same with Youko minus the skipping part, and Shimako and Noriko only exchanged worried glances at each other before following the rest of the group out of the room. Yumi was too happy being close to Sachiko's arm that she didn't quite care where the heiress would be dragging her. Quite honestly, Yumi did have too much to drink herself. Then again, Kanade, Hibiki, Yuujiro, Toru and her did have a little too much to drink. The only person left in their group that didn't drink that much was Yuuki, only because he wanted to catch up and get to know about Touko a little bit more as time went by._

_The group had arrived into the big room and had sat down at where Sei had told them to. Fortunately for the two bound boys, they had help from Yuuki when he had supported them to stand on their feet. They had silently walked behind the girls, trying their best not to make any noises in case the three girls would crack again. However, unfortunately for them, they weren't allowed to participate in the event because of their conditions. Even Yoshino and Sei couldn't save them for fear that they might find themselves in the same similar situation as them. So once everyone had gotten down, it was Sachiko that had spoken up first._

"_Let's tell them about the soeur system since I know that they are all wondering why we are calling our Onee-samas, Onee-sama, when we aren't related except for Yoshino and Rei," the heiress had said and the group was more than happy to explain._

_The older former Roses were the one that explained the most with only Sachiko and Shimako adding and commenting every so often. Once it was over, Yumi and her group were interested in this so-called soeur system that they didn't even mind to attend high school once again if they could attend Lillian. The former Roses had giggled at that and they had commented on how Kanade and Hibiki could never find an Onee-sama since they couldn't be apart from one another. They also commented how Toru and Yuujiro would get busted after hearing about their cross-dress stories from Yumi, Kanade and Hibiki. However, they had commented that Yumi would likely be the successful one to find an Onee-sama, when the one that could and always be her Onee-sama was the one she was latching on. At that comment Yumi had blush an adorable shade of pink and the rest of the people around the room were looking at her with smiles on their faces._

"_So about tonight's activity, Yoshino-san?" Shimako asked after Yumi seemed to calm down from her little embarrassment. Even though her face didn't show it, but the Lillian Angel's eyes were twinkling with excitement and curiosity._

"_Oh, right," Yoshino quickly said as she clapped her hands together. "I suggest that we play Truth or Dare!"_

"_But that's a little boring, don't you think?" Hibiki asked as she looked at Yoshino with a disinterested expression._

_Sei chuckled as she wagged her finger at Hibiki. "It's not boring if you have drink from a bottle of sake if you don't want to do the dare or the truth."_

_Hibiki glanced over at her, studying her face before she caught a mischievous glint in them and grinned. "I think I like to know where this game's going to lead to."_

_So the game began. To make the game fair they had decided to go around the circle in an anti-clockwise motion. Yumi had finally decided to unbound the two guys and let them join, seeing that it wouldn't be fair for everyone if she would let them off the hook. It was fortunate for the boys but at the same time unfortunate for them. Since they were the ones that had pissed Kanade, Hibiki and Yumi off, they had to start first. Toru had taken a dare and because the former Roses were thoroughly intrigued at the idea of him cross-dressing as a female, they had all dared him to dress up as a maid. Sachiko had even offered him her greatest hospitality by providing him with one of the maid outfits that they had. Not to mention that she had also given him the cosmetic and accessories for his transformation. When Toru had gone and came back in his maid outfit, the former Roses had let out an unlady-like squeal as they gazed at him. Toru didn't even think that he would be getting such reactions from the girls, not when they were exceptionally beautiful._

_Next up was Yuujiro and he had chosen dare, not wanting to be outdone by Toru. Of course, he was given the same dare as Toru and the latter wasn't allowed to go back and change his clothes until they had seen Yuujiro in the same costume. Once again, squeals were heard from the room as Yuujiro emerged in his prettiness. The boys were made to pose to the former Roses' satisfaction until they were let go. Sure they had seen a lot of men cross-dressing, but none had been this gorgeous like the two males that had literally modelled for them. So the game continued once again when the two males came back and joined them. They learned a thing or two about each other, and some had taken quite an amount of sips from the bottle of sake that Sei and Yoshino had brought in. When the game had ended most of them were either passed out, completely drunk or sitting in their lacy undergarments with flustered faces or both. The only one that had come out unscratched was Shimako. She didn't know why they hadn't dared her to do anything ridiculous as stripping a piece of her clothing. Then again, she didn't know why Noriko hadn't even dared her to do that when the younger girl always wanted to strip her naked whenever they were alone. It was just very confusing to her and she just couldn't quite put her finger into it._

"_Sachiko-sama?" Shimako asked softly as she turned her gaze over to the heiress whom was trying her best not to pass out from the amount of alcohol she had put into her system. Fortunately for Shimako, she hadn't taken more than three sips of the alcohol ever since the game had started. She didn't have to but she didn't want to be the only one to not drink from the bottle._

_Sachiko turned her head over at the blonde, regarding her with heavy lidded eyes. "Yes, Shimako?" Her words came out as a slur before a soft hiccup emitted from her lips._

"_Could we stay the night? I doubt that any of us is able to drive home safely tonight," Shimako asked as her eyes once again observed the situation before her. It was a big mess and she wondered how on earth she had let it gotten this far. Or rather, how on earth Sachiko had let it gotten this far._

"_S-hic-ure," Sachiko responded as her head started to droop. She quickly straightened up but only to almost nod off again. _

"_You try to relax, Sachiko-sama, I can help you with this," Shimako said as she flashed her senior a genuine smile before she stood from her seat, carefully lifting Noriko's off of her lap before placing the drunken sleeping girl on the cushion that she had been sitting on. Then she was off to inform the maids about their sleepover and how she would appreciate their helps if they could help her carrying some of the members to their respected rooms. _

_Four rooms were set up a moment after the request had been made. The maids had helped Shimako carrying the drunken recipients into their rooms and laid them down on the futon. The three boys had to share one room, and all three of them had been long gone from reality and had drifted off into their dreamland oh so long ago. Youko, Eriko and Kanade were in another room as Eriko had already passed out, Youko was barely hanging on and Kanade was between the sleeping and being awake state. Rei, Yoshino and Hibiki were in the third room as Rei was trying her best to support Yoshino when she couldn't even support herself. The latter had long been passed out and was only in her lacy undergarment and Rei was trying her best not to grope the sleeping girl. Hibiki was, to say the least, long gone. Shimako, Noriko and Touko shared the fourth room. Shimako had carried Noriko to their room without much effort, and a maid had carried Touko to the room. That only left Sachiko and Yumi, and the heiress couldn't be more than happy to know that Yumi would be sleeping with her. Well, sharing the same bed, hopefully._

"_Yumi," Sachiko said softly as she caressed the younger girl's cheek. When she found that her hand was trembling a little, she let it dropped on her lap with a sigh. _

_Yumi wasn't drunk. She was tipsy, but not drunk. She, like Shimako, was the only one that was daring enough to do all the dares and tell most of the truths. So she only needed to take several sips from the bottle, but that amount alone was enough to make her feel sleepy. At least she wasn't going to wake up with a hangover like some of them. Boy, she couldn't wait to see the look on their faces when they wake up the next morning._

"_Mmm?"_

"_We should get to bed," Sachiko said softly._

"_Mmmkay," Yumi responded as she retracted herself from Sachiko. She then yawned, placing a hand over her mouth before she stood up. Sachiko made a stand but she started to stumble. Yumi, being quick on her feet, had caught Sachiko before the girl had actually hit the ground. She giggled as Sachiko gave her a lazy smile. So with Sachiko's direction to the room, Yumi had supported the heiress as they walked down the hallway and toward Sachiko's room. Once they got there Yumi led the heiress to the bed and gently laid her down. When she pulled away, Sachiko had quickly grabbed a hold of her arm to keep her from leaving._

"_Don't leave," Sachiko murmured as she looked up at her, while fighting the losing battle of keeping her eyes open._

"_I won't, I promise," Yumi flashed the heiress a reassurance smile. "I just need to freshen up a little bit then I'll come back."_

_Sachiko nodded when she found that she couldn't argue with the girl when sleep was taking over her. When she had let go off of Yumi, the latter had pulled up the duvet over her and quietly walked off to the bathroom. Yumi turned on the tab and splashed some water onto her face, waking her senses before realization dawned on her. In her tipsy state, she wouldn't be thinking this, but now that her senses had been woken up by the cold water, it came to her. She was going to sleep under the same duvet as Sachiko's. She was going to be next to Sachiko. Her arms would be around Sachiko's frame and if she was lucky, Sachiko's arms would be around hers. She was going to share the same bed with Sachiko. Sachiko was only in her undergarment at the moment and so was she._

"_Oh. Em. Gee!" Yumi mumbled under her breath as she stared down at the basin. "I...What...Huh...How...Am I...Ah!" All of that came out of her mouth as a loud whisper as her heart began to race. _'Okay, calm down! It's not like you're doing anything to her, or she's doing anything to you! You two are just going to sleep!'_ She chided herself before she splashed some more cold water onto her face to get rid of her thoughts and maybe calmed her heart down a bit. After she had dried her face, she turned to make her way back toward the bed when a knock at the door caught her attention. Grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her half naked body in a quick motion, she made her way over to the door and opened it to there was a creak that she could see who it was from the inside._

"_H-Hai?"_

"_Yumi-chan, is it?" A middle-aged woman asked with a smile on her lips. Yumi gazed at the woman before noting some familiar features on her that Sachiko also shared. _'Must be her mother,'_ Yumi thought._

"_Umm...yes," Yumi replied. "Is there...anything I can do for you, Ogasawara-sama?"_

"_I know that it's a little late but my husband and I would love to have you over for dinner on Tuesday, would it be alright for you?" The woman asked with a glint of hope in her eyes._

"_O-Of course!" Yumi answered with a small smile. "If...If you wouldn't mind having me there."_

"_Of course, my dear, we would love you to join us," the woman chuckled before she smiled once more. "And Yumi, just call me by my name, Sayako."_

"_Well then...Sayako...Obaa-sama?"_

_Sayako nodded with a happy smile. "I quite like that. Well, since it's late and you girls just had one long night, so I'll leave you to rest now. Goodnight, Yumi."_

"_Goodnight, Sayako-Obaa-sama," Yumi returned the kind gesture before closing the door._

"Doomed," Yumi muttered beneath her breath as she laid on her bed on the Tuesday's morning.

Sachiko had requested to stay the night the previous night since she didn't have anything to do today, so Yumi had agreed. It was quite a fun night for the both of them, though neither had taken their relationship to the next level just yet. They were just happy being in each other's arms, and even so they couldn't hide it from the public eye. Rumors about Sachiko dating a woman had spread throughout Japan, but it spread even faster when the woman had been revealed as her new photographer for the magazine that had been published on Monday. Sachiko didn't mind that at all even though the press had been making troubling her Ogasawara name. It made it look like she had been cheating on Suguru until she had annulled the engagement on Sunday. Well, she hadn't gone public about it yet but soon she'd know they would ask about it soon. Right now, however, she couldn't keep her eyes off of the adorable look that her love was giving next to her on the bed.

"Doomed?" The heiress asked as she regarded Yumi with puzzlement.

"Yes," Yumi sighed in exasperation. "I'm...doomed!"


	13. Chapter 13

**[ Chapter 13 ]**

The heiress couldn't have asked for a better birthday party. She knew that the after party was a little ridiculous but she had played right into Yoshino and Sei's game. At least she didn't come out as badly as Yoshino and Sei since the two had passed out from the amount of alcohol they had. Sachiko wasn't one to accept the fact that she had lost, and just by being one of the few people that could manage to stand after such a fascinating yet terrible game of truth and dare, she was a tad bit happy at the result. Her happiness only intensified when Yumi didn't ask anything about sharing a bed with her. So when the brunette had left to go to the bathroom, she had found herself fallen into a deep slumber with a smile on her face. The next morning she had woken up with a small headache, but the pain didn't last long when the sight that greeted her when she opened her eyes was the adorable sleeping face of the girl that she loved. That was when she had made up her mind to cancel the wedding, as soon as possible.

Sachiko had quietly slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a short shower. After all she had to clean off the filth from last night. She knew that if she had a little bit more of energy last night, she would have cleaned herself up before she would have gone to bed. So after the short shower, she emerged out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around her body. She was oblivious to the fact that the brunette had already awakened and because of that, she didn't quite hesitate to drop the towel as it pooled around her feet after pulling out an outfit that she would most likely to wear on a Sunday. Once she was fully dressed, she turned around to make her way to her vanity desk but paused on her spot. The soft, brown eyes of the other girl was gazing at her with so much intensity and desire in them that she was starting to feel a little self-conscious; a feeling that she had never felt before. Her cheeks began to burn as the girl pushed herself up, the bed cover sliding off of the girl's shoulders and rested around the girl's abdomen. Even so, the sight of Yumi in nothing but her lacy pink undergarments was not something she was preparing herself to see. Not to mention, the position that the girl was in didn't quite help her from thinking coherently.

Trying to gather her thoughts, or what was left of her thoughts, Sachiko brought herself over to the bed while her gaze was trying its hardest not to slip down any further than the soft brown orbs. She then seated herself on the edge of the bed, the corner of her lips curling up into a smile but before she could say anything, the girl in front of her let out a small, adorable pout.

"You're such a tease," Yumi spoke. The words made the heiress blinked in confusion.

"Have I done something?" Sachiko asked and watched as Yumi took in a deep breath before responding.

"You came out of the bathroom wrapped up in just a towel. You took quite long in deciding your Sunday outfit while your hips were swaying as if you were trying to rouse me up! Then...all of the sudden, you just **had** to let your towel drop and reveal that sexy as – " Yumi's rant was quickly silenced by Sachiko's finger pressing on her lips as the latter was beet red from having to listen to the younger girl telling her that she was wide awake when she didn't know.

"I'm sorry," Sachiko quickly said but her voice was low. "I didn't know that you were already awake." She then removed her finger from Yumi's soft lips with an apologetic smile.

"You didn't?" Yumi asked, a little surprised. When Sachiko shook her head she blinked. "You didn't hear me asking you to come back to bed when you were starting to get out of bed?"

"You did?" Sachiko asked in surprise. Truth be told, she didn't even hear anything but her brain telling her that she needed a shower.

Yumi sighed and shook her head after realizing that the heiress wasn't a morning person. "Never mind," she spoke. "You're not a morning person."

Sachiko could only smile until her eyes had accidentally lowered from Yumi's brown orbs. Suddenly, her lips felt rather dry and she could only gulp at the sight that was so close to her eyes. Her whole body tensed for a moment as she tried her best to steer her head away from the half naked body before her. After all, it was improper for a lady to stare. Then again, she just couldn't help but stare at the magnificent body that was just there, begging for her to touch it. If she didn't have any control then she would. The whole reason that her body had tensed up was because she didn't want to even move it. She knew that if she was to relax at this moment, all of her control would slip and she would definitely find herself in a new morning activity.

Yumi had sensed Sachiko's sudden change of behavior and wanted to ask the taller girl about it but chose against it. The destination that the sapphire eyes were on at the moment was enough of an answer for her. She didn't know whether she should cover herself up, or even encourage the raven hair beauty to give into her desire. She was glad that those eyes weren't even looking at her because she knew that if they did, she would be lost in those sapphire eyes that were fuelled with desire and lust for none other than herself. So finally deciding that it wasn't the right time to be ravished from the other girl, even though she already felt like those sapphire eyes were already ravishing her, Yumi had turned away and feigned a light cough.

The cough had brought Sachiko back into reality as her head had started to make sense of the situation before her. Her face was once again beet red as she tore her eyes away and used whatever strength that she had to stand up. "Your dress is laid out on the armchair over there," she paused to motion her hand to the said chair. "I will leave to give you your privacy." With that being said, Sachiko made quick steps on her feet to get out of the room. Once the door was shut behind her, she immediately leaned her back against it while letting out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. _'This is quite bad,'_ she sighed. _'I need to get a hold of myself.'_

After chiding herself she quickly made her way down the corridors to check on her friends. She had already considered Yumi's friends to be her friends as well. Well, she wasn't sure about the boys but the girls were as interesting as Yumi, except for the part that they could act like children just like Yoshino and Sei at times. At least she could handle Kanade, since the girl clearly had some manners. She couldn't quite make of Hibiki though. That girl was too energetic and totally full of life. She knew that Yumi was energetic and full of life as well, but at least she could keep up with the girl if only for a slightest bit. With Hibiki, however, she couldn't keep up at all. It was then that she wondered how Kanade could keep up with that firey-brunette girl.

"Gokigenyou, Sachiko-Ojou-sama," the maids greeted her softly as she walked past them. Sachiko only nodded and smiled at them as her usual greeting before she rounded the corner to where her friends were at.

First, she checked in on the boys to see if they were alright. The heiress didn't need to slide the door to peak in when the loud noise of the boys' snores already indicated that they were still asleep. She sighed and shook her head in disapproval before she moved to the next room to where Sei was. She didn't know why they had given Sei a room for herself, but when she neared it she could hear giggles emitting from it. She could only guess that somehow Youko had slipped into Sei's room in the middle of the night, and she didn't dare to imagine what they did afterward. So she moved on to the next three rooms. When she had slid the door open to peak in on Eriko and Kanade's room, she sighed when she saw Eriko gazing at the sleeping girl with a huge fascination dancing in her eyes. She knew that if Eriko was to keep that up, Kanade no doubt would wake up screaming. She then moved to the next room and after peaking through, she sighed once more before sliding the door quietly closed. Hibiki and Yoshino were already up and were chatting among themselves, and if she had heard correctly, it looked like they were planning something to Rei when the latter would wake up. She moved to the next room and was quite surprise that the futon were folded neatly and were placed at the corner of the room.

"Sachiko-Onee-sama, why won't you come in and talk to us for a bit?" It was the soft voice of her cousin and she couldn't deny the girl's simple request. So she nodded and let herself in before sitting down to join the three girls.

"Good morning to the three of you, Shimako, Noriko and Touko," Sachiko said softly and smiled at them as they both returned the kind gesture. "How is your morning going so far?"

"I have quite a headache," Touko said as she tried not to wince from the throbbing of her head.

"Me too," Noriko said softly, trying her best not to move her head around too much.

"You two did drink quite a lot from that bottle," Shimako commented with a small smile. "At least you saved yourself from stripping all of your clothing."

Sachiko turned away, coughing a little into her hand to hide the blush that had set on her face. The three girls giggled as they recalled the even from last night. They wouldn't dare to tease Sachiko about it, especially in the morning when they knew that the latter wasn't much of a morning person.

"Are the others up yet?" Touko asked and by the tone in her voice, Sachiko knew that the younger girl wasn't really looking for anyone but Yuuki.

"The boys are sleeping," Sachiko replied with a knowing smile. Touko blinked before she blushed lightly. Not being able to hold herself back since it had always been a rare sight for her to tease her cousin, or even see the girl blush. "I know that if you go and wake Yuuki up, I'm very sure that he would be up without needing the second call."

"Sachiko-Onee-sama!" Touko protested as she pouted which earned her a soft chuckle from the older girl.

"My apologies," Sachiko quickly said after her laughter died down. "The rest are awake, well some. I'm very sure that they will wake up soon if they want breakfast."

The four girls stayed in the room to chat for a little while until it was time for them to check on everyone else so they could go and have breakfast together. The Ogasawara household had never received such energetic morning in all of their years of living, and this was the first time that the mansion had been erupted into giggles and laughter in the morning. Unfortunately, it was short live when they all had to say their goodbyes. Yumi was the last to say her goodbye and once she left, Sachiko had returned inside the mansion and into her room to prepare the speech that she wanted to do to give to her parents. She was nervous, that was for sure. She didn't know if she could go through with it when Yumi wasn't here with her. Actually, if the brunette was here with her she wouldn't know if she would be able to look at her parents in the eyes and tell them that she wanted to cancel the engagement because she was in love with a woman. What would they think of her? She had to find out the hard way and that way was to confront them about it.

Sachiko sighed as she ran a hand through her raven hair. She didn't know if it would work out the way that she hope it would. Would fate toy with her? That she wasn't sure of. Fate had brought Yumi to her, and if it had decided to toy around with her then she would certainly be doomed. When there was a knock at the door, she released another sigh and stood up from her chair to walk over to the door. When she opened it, she was informed from her maid that her parents were waiting for her at the family meeting room. She nodded her head in confirmative and told the maid that she would be there shortly. She closed the door only to mentally prepare herself for what her parents wanted to see her for, and for what she was going to tell them. Why was it so hard for her to tell them what she wanted? Why was it so hard to tell them about her feelings toward the other girl? Then again, it was hard enough to confess to Yumi. At least she had gotten it out. Now telling her parents about that would be the hardest.

After gathering her courage, Sachiko opened the door once more and stepped outside. She then made her way toward the family meeting room after closing the door behind her. Her steps faltered slightly when she almost reached her destination. Sachiko knew that whatever she was doing was important not only for her, but for Yumi too. She didn't want Yumi to suffer the consequences that she had created from not putting her words into action. Also, she clearly didn't want to tarnish the Ogasawara name as well. What would happen if the headline of the newspapers said _'Ogasawara Sachiko is cheating on her fiancée, Kashiwagi Suguru, with a photographer woman'_? Surely she didn't want the whole media to have unnecessary uproar. Well, even so, she couldn't really predict the future.

Sachiko knocked on the door of the family meeting room, and after receiving the permission to enter, she turned the doorknob and pushed the door open, entering the room before shutting the door closed behind her. She regarded her parents with a respectful bow before her father ushered her to sit on the sofa across from him and her mother. Sachiko complied and after she had seated herself, she looked expectedly over at her parents. She had learned to mask her emotions while she was talking to her father, though she knew that her mother could see right through her since she spent her time with her mother more than her father.

"I heard that you and your friends had quite a night last night," Tooru said with an amused smile. If Sachiko was blushing, she was hiding it well under her stoic mask.

"I apologize if we've had disturbed your rest," Sachiko said sincerely though her tone bare no regret that if they did disturbed the two older adults.

"It is quite alright, Sachiko," Tooru said with a smile. "I'm just glad that you are having fun once in a while."

Sachiko nodded, offering him a small smile of gratitude before going into the topic of what she had been brought here for, or why she had even come. "Is there something you would like to talk to me about, Father?"

Tooru frowned a little before letting his expression relax. "Your engagement with Kashiwagi-san."

"Yes?" Sachiko asked, hoping that this topic wasn't going to turn into something bad...such as an argument.

"How long are you going to push the date, Sachiko?" Tooru sighed tiredly. "Every time the time is near, you would push it back a little bit more. I know that Kashiwagi-san doesn't mind, but what about your future? Don't you want to settle down and finally have a little family of your own?"

"Father," Sachiko sighed. "What would you do if I said I don't love Suguru?"

Taken by surprise, Tooru stared wide eyes at her while his wife raised a hand to cover her mouth from the shock. "Then...well..." Tooru was at a loss for words. He didn't want to push her into doing something that she didn't want, yet he didn't want the family name to go down because of her action either.

"Would you cancel the wedding?" Sachiko asked as if she had found some kind of strength within her. The truth was, she was shaking from the inside. If she was to stand at the moment her knees would have given out on her.

Tooru eyed her for a moment, not quite sure what to make of the situation. He cleared his throat after a few minutes before opening his mouth to speak. "Do you love Kashiwagi-san?"

Sighing, Sachiko shook her head. "No."

"Do you regret for not loving him?" Tooru asked once more.

Once again, Sachiko shook her head. "No."

Sayako, already hearing more than she had wanted, quickly let her question be voiced out. "Is it Yumi-chan that you love?"

Sachiko's frame became rigid. Her plan of coming out to her parents seemed to have failed. How did her mother know something that she hadn't even spoken of to her about? That was one of the mysteries that she hadn't figured out yet. It was as if her mother had supernatural senses that would help her in finding out more about the heiress. Or perhaps it was because of the way she had been gazing at Yumi so fondly last night. That must be it! How else would her own mother notice about these things?

"Mother..." Sachiko started after she regained her composure. However, Sayako brought up her hand to signal her to stop, in which she did.

"I've invited her to a family dinner on Tuesday night."

"What?" Sachiko asked in surprise. How many times did she have to be surprise this week?

Sayako sighed and shook her head. "I have invited Yumi-chan to a family dinner on Tuesday night," she spoke slowly as if her daughter at the moment was too slow to process the information into her head. "She had already agreed to it."

'_Yumi did what?'_ Sachiko screamed in her head as she stared at her mother, shock and surprise beyond comprehension. _'Why didn't she tell me today?'_ "I...see..." She responded with a small nod, not knowing what else to say to the sudden change of topic.

"I will call up Kashiwagi-san's family and explain to them the situation," Tooru said as he began to stand up but didn't miss the confusion that Sachiko had sent over to him. He smiled gently and turned to look at his wife, silently asking her to take over while he went to make a phone call. Sayako nodded her head in understanding and turned to look at her daughter as her husband went to the phone at the far corner.

"Your father will cancel the engagement," Sayako said with a happy smile.

"T-That's it?" Sachiko stuttered out in complete shock. She didn't know that it would be this easy to cancel the engagement due to the fact that she shared no love for the guy. Well, romantic love that was. She would marry him out of duty and she knew that he would as well. However, due to the fact that Yumi had appeared in her life and found her way to the heiress' heart, she couldn't ignore her feelings any longer than it should. She had suffered enough and she had to take a stand on what she wanted out of her happiness. She just didn't expect that she could grasp it so easily.

"Ara, is Sachiko stuttering?" Sayako asked in amusement as she watched her daughter with a knowing smile.

The question made her blush and she was sure that her father had noticed it before she turned to hide it behind her hair. "No..."

Sayako chuckled softly behind her hand and just by one glance at her husband, she could see that he was trying his best to hide his chuckle as well. The older woman turned back to her daughter then, her eyes softened as she regarded the younger girl. "Make sure that Yumi-chan is on time, alright Sa-chan?"

All of that conversation had brought her to make plan with Yumi the following night. Well, they didn't do much other than snuggling into one another on Yumi's couch while watching movies that didn't have her in it. Sachiko did have a busy Monday. The paparazzi were all up in her face the moment she had stepped out of her black sedan to get to the studio set to shoot her movie. They didn't just snap candid photos of her, they were also asking her about her newfound relationship with a certain brunette photographer and what had happened with her fiancée. She didn't answer any of the questions as she just shrugged them off as she made her way inside. Her bodyguards were already there, blocking and pushing the paparazzi away. Even though the paparazzi weren't asking her any of those questions anymore, her co-workers had started asking her about it too. At least they respected her privacy and knew when to back off. By the time she got to Yumi's apartment she was more than exhausted, both physically and mentally. Yumi was all understanding and had been trying her best to relax the heiress ever since.

Sachiko hadn't quite mentioned the fact that she was going to take Yumi over to her place for the dinner with the parents tonight. Well, it wasn't her idea but she knew that sooner or later she would have to properly introduce Yumi to her parents. It was just happening too fast and she clearly did not have the time to prepare for any of it. And because she had failed to mention to the brunette that she was going to pick her up to the dinner, Yumi had started to semi-panic on a Tuesday morning. Oh, the heiress surely didn't mind waking up next to the slightly panicked brunette for she thought it was cute. She even thought that it be a little fun to tease her love as well.

"Why are you doomed, Yumi?" She asked before she drawn in a fake gasp. "Is it because I'm here?"

Yumi quickly turned to look at Sachiko in surprise. "What? What makes you say that?"

Sachiko hid her amusement as she let her mask took place. "Your pale face and the fact that you keep mumbling '_I'm doomed_' over and over."

"That's not it!" Yumi slightly groaned, oblivious to the fact that she was being teased.

Sachiko sighed as she placed a hand over her heart, feigning the hurt on her face. "Now you're yelling at me. What have I done wrong, Yumi?" As if to make it look more dramatic, she raised her other hand to make a gesture of swiping an invisible tear from her eyes. That was enough to make Yumi panic a bit more.

"S-Sachiko! That's not what I meant!" Realizing that she was practically shouting, Yumi tried to calm herself down only to hear giggle coming from the other girl. It was then that she realized what the heiress had been doing, and so she folded her arms and pouted. "Really, Sachiko..."

Wiping a laughing tear from her eyes, Sachiko couldn't help but rose up from her position to claim the younger girl's lips. When she pulled away from the soft lips, she smiled before giving those lips a small peck. "Sorry, I couldn't help it. You're just too cute when you're panicking."

"I'm not sure to whether be angry at you or panic at the fact that your mother invited me to dinner tonight," Yumi replied breathlessly as she gazed into the older girl's sapphire orbs. Then again, she was finding it hard to focus her mind on those beautiful eyes when Sachiko's fingers were lazily tracing the skin on her abdomen.

"I heard about that," Sachiko whispered as she watched the other girl's breath became slightly heavy from her light caress. "She told me to bring you there on time."

"Is that why you're here?" Yumi asked as she tried her best to regain her breathing but it was difficult to do so.

Sachiko chuckled as she shook her head, her fingers intentionally travelled lower but stopped to only bring those said fingers back up again. "I'm here because I want to spend all of my spare time with you."

Yumi knew that she was being teased, once again, but physically this time. "Oh, then what do you want to do?"

Sachiko stopped her caressing as she searched those warm brown eyes for any hint that the girl wanted to carry on with what she was doing. She found what she had sought, but she didn't want to give the girl what she wanted. After all, the day was still young; far too young for such an activity. So with a mischievous smile, she circled her arm around the girl's waist and pulled the brunette closer to her. Their lips met once more as their tongues danced together. Yumi already knew that she had lost the battle of control to the older girl, and she also knew that the girl was teasing her to her heart's content. And no matter how hard she tried to gain control, Sachiko could easily take it away by lightly dragging her nails down the younger girl's back. And when Yumi could figure out exactly what Sachiko wanted to do, the heiress pulled away and slipped out of the bed in a quick motion, leaving the brunette in a blinking stupor.

"W-What just happened?" Yumi asked in confusion. Sachiko held her laughter in as she tapped a finger on her bottom lip.

"You were just giving me an early 'breakfast'," Sachiko replied with a little smirk.

"R-Really?" Yumi asked, still in her stupor to comprehend the situation.

"Yes," Sachiko replied before she turned away from the brunette, still trying to hold onto that laughter that wanted to break out. "I'll go and make the both of us _proper_ breakfast now."

Yumi only nodded, her eyes watching the older girl moved out of the room with a seductive sway of her hips. Once the girl was out of the room, her brain quickly processed the situation before comprehension dawned on her. Her face colored up nicely but it wasn't out of anger. She couldn't be mad at the heiress when she had just seduced her into looking like a fool. She groaned, loud enough for the raven hair beauty to hear before shouting after her. "You're so mean, Sachiko!"

Sachiko let out her laughter as she descended the stairs, or rather trying to. She was clutching at the rail while placing one foot after the other down the steps. She had heard Yumi loud and clear, and that was why she was laughing. She could already tell that today was going to be an amazing day, though she couldn't really tell about the dinner tonight. Pushing the dinner thought out of the day, she focused her mind on her whole day with Yumi. That was enough to bring a huge smile on her face.


	14. Chapter 14

**[ Chapter 14 ]**

A whole day with Sachiko wasn't a bad thing. Definitely wasn't a bad thing. The problem was that she had to go prepare for work and that would mean half a day being stuck in the photography studio. Then another half producing the photos in the darkness of the photo processor room. How on earth would she be able to spend enough time with Sachiko on the heiress' day off? Yumi sighed as she watched the heiress cleaning up the kitchen, _her_ kitchen in which she should be the one to do so. Apparently she wasn't being a good hostess, but the heiress wouldn't allow her to come into the kitchen after their playful breakfast. Sachiko had said something about wanting to try it out. Yumi didn't understand why Sachiko would even want to. She never imagined the raven hair beauty to be cleaning up the small mess that they had created. The image just looked absurd to her, and Sachiko was far too beautiful to be near any filth. However, Yumi couldn't convince Sachiko to leave the dishes to her, unfortunately.

Yumi heard the tap being turned on for a mere two seconds before it was turned off again. Then it was turned on, then off, and the process was being repeated for a good half a minute before she heard a delight uncharacteristic squeal coming from the older girl. She couldn't bring herself to understand why Sachiko was being excited over the water tap at the kitchen sink. Did the squeaky sound amuse her? That would probably be it. Then again, if Sachiko had attended high school then she would know about cleaning duty wouldn't she? So, the squeaky sound of the water tap being turned on wasn't that amusing. Well, not to her anyway.

Yumi sighed as she placed her chin in her palm, her eyes peering over to the kitchen to see Sachiko's form gliding around the kitchen. Well, it was only dishes but the heiress made it look like she was attending a ballet lesson. Well, at least Sachiko was having fun and she was glad that her kitchen was a medium size kitchen, so there was plenty of space for Sachiko to move around without injuring herself. Then again, she couldn't see the heiress so clumsily hurting herself. She could see herself do that, but not Sachiko. She could feel a sweat threatening to leave her forehead as she pictured herself getting her inside of her kitchen. Well, her morning couldn't go any smoother than this.

"Yumi," Sachiko softly called out to her.

Yumi stood up from where she was sitting and moved over toward the kitchen, which wasn't far from where she was originally. "Yes?" She answered as she poked her head inside the kitchen. A small gasp emitted her lips when her eyes landed on the kitchen sink. She wasn't sure if she was to praise her love or to laugh or to tease her. The dishes were, well, how would she put it? Half done, half not done? The dishes did sparkle, that was something. But she could tell by the smell of the dishwashing lotion that the dishes were far from being cleaned.

"I'm done with the dishes," Sachiko announced with a proud smile. Yumi hated to wipe that smile from her face but she couldn't have the dishes go on the rack without them being properly raised. So she went over to where Sachiko was standing, leaning up on her tiptoes to place a small kiss on the older girl's lips. Well, now it was the time to wipe that smile from her lovely girlfriend's face.

"Sachiko, darling, I don't think you are done with the dishes yet."

Sachiko looked back at her, her eyes unblinking as she tried to understand what Yumi was saying. Yumi looked back at her, trying hard not to giggle at the adorable look that Sachiko was giving her. Perhaps she needed to spell it out for Sachiko. The girl hadn't even cleaned anything ever since she graduated high school after all. Then again, she wondered if Sachiko had ever even rinse any dishes properly back during high school.

"I can still smell the dishwashing liquid, Sachiko," Yumi said teasingly as she turned to stand in front of Sachiko. She then took hold of the pair of kitchen gloves before turning on the hot water from the tap. She began to rinse the dishes, one by one, before placing them on the rack to dry them off. Since she was facing away from Sachiko, she didn't know what the other girl was thinking. It was only a good minute that she felt the older girl's arms wrapped around her waist, her front pushing up against her back. The warm feeling of the other girl's body next to her made her blush, and she tried her hardest to focus on the dishes so she wouldn't drop any of them on the floor.

"I guess I would make a terrible housewife," Sachiko said with a sigh as she watched her beloved finishing what she had started.

"Not exactly," Yumi said with a light shake of her head. "The breakfast you made was delicious," at least that was true. She didn't know that Sachiko could make such delicious pancakes. Or maybe it was her love for the heiress that got her to think anything would taste good if it was made by Sachiko's hands.

"Are you sure?" Sachiko asked and Yumi nodded her answer, she sighed and hugged the girl tighter. "You're not saying this to make me feel better, right?"

Yumi giggled before shaking her head. She placed the last of the dishes on the rack, pulled out the gloves and placed it neatly on the side of the rack, before turning herself around in Sachiko's arms when the latter loosened the grip on her. Her arms instantly wrapped around Sachiko's neck as she gazed up at those alluring sapphire eyes in adoration. "I would never lie to you, Sachiko."

Sachiko smiled and the smile only widened when Yumi returned it. She lowered her head, and was about to place a kiss upon those soft lips until Yumi's ringtone rudely interrupted the moment. Yumi muttered an apology as she slipped out of Sachiko's arms and went over to where her phone was lying on the dining table. She picked it up and answered it. After a few seconds she turned to glance at the clock on the wall, her face instantly started to pale. She was fashionably late to work, and she couldn't find an excuse to give to the assistants that were waiting for her to get there. After closing the conversation and putting her phone back on the table, she heaved out a sigh before rushing around the place to grab a jacket and her handbag. Once she got that ready, she placed her mobile into the bag before turning to look at Sachiko apologetically.

"I'm sorry but I'm a little late for work. I guess I won't be hanging out with you today," Yumi said with regret in her tone. Why did it have to happen to her of all people? Sachiko was always busy, she knew that. But whenever the raven hair beauty was free, she was not.

"Mmm," Sachiko mused as she placed a finger on her chin, tapping it thoughtfully. "Do you think they would mind if I tag along?"

Yumi just stared at her girlfriend, not really sure of what she had just heard. It took her quite a few seconds to comprehend her girlfriend's question, and once she did Yumi didn't care if her co-workers would complain about having Sachiko there would her. But then, would that add to the rumours about Sachiko cheating on Kashiwagi Suguru? Sure, she already knew the story behind it, and that the engagement had been annulled, but she didn't want to cause such a ruckus when Sachiko hadn't made it clear to the public that she and the handsome-face jerk weren't together anymore.

"Are you sure you want to come? They still want to know the story behind your suppose cheating, you know," Yumi said worriedly as she made her way over to where her keys were. She grabbed the keys before turning on her heels. "I mean I don't mind you coming along, I just don't want everybody to pressure you about it."

"What about you?" Sachiko asked, totally dismissing the fact that she was the one being pressured about the issue more than Yumi was. "They pressure you too, you know."

Yumi shrugged as she fiddled with the keys. "It's not that big a deal. Besides, they don't go as far as being up my face to get a story out of me." She chuckled as her eyes followed Sachiko's movement as the latter walked up to her.

"Rumours are just rumours," Sachiko said with a smile. "They will be cleared up when I'm less busy."

"Well then," Yumi grinned as she took the older girl's hand in hers. "Let's hurry before I receive another phone call from work. I can't afford to receive unreasonable amount of glares and I sure can't work under the impression that they want to kill me."

Sachiko chuckled before the two women left the house and into Yumi's car. It only took fifteen minutes for the two of them to get there, minus the distraction that they both got from the paparazzi when they stepped out of the car. They were grateful of the help they got from the security guard that happened to notice them. Yumi made it to her work though quite late, but they didn't give her any mind when Sachiko appeared beside her. The brunette wasn't sure if she was using Sachiko as her saviour or that Sachiko was indeed her 'Prince Charming' on a 'White Horse'. Come to think of it, it might as well be. She really did love fairy tales.

Yumi had immediately gone to her stand behind her camera as Sachiko took the liberty of sitting on one of the high chairs, watching her. Sachiko watched as the brunette paused for a minute, her back straightened as her eyes focused on the model in front of her. She watched in fascination at how Yumi's assistants responded to her without having Yumi to repeat her requests twice. She wasn't sure if it was because she was there, or maybe they truly respected Yumi. Then again, she had seen the final project that Tsutako had entrusted to her friend. The lighting, the colors and the contrast of the front cover was truly marvellous. She didn't know that Yumi would use one of the photos from that Friday night. She still had to look at the photos that she had taken of Yumi. After all it was Yumi's camera, not hers. Hopefully the brunette hadn't deleted the photos.

After two hours of watching Yumi working, the brunette finally got a fifteen minutes break. Normally she would go out and grab something to eat since she didn't like the food in the facility, but since she didn't want to get hold up like in the morning she had to suffice with the facility food. Sachiko was more than happy to accompany Yumi to the cafeteria not so far from the studio. The heiress received admiration looks from the surrounding people but none of them were brave enough to approach her, or to even break the serene aura that the two women were having. They all had read about the heiress' deathly glare when she was being interrupted or her moment was ruined. The latter happened really rarely, but the former happened almost every day. Those that received the deathly glare were used to it, those that were new could only cower in the corner of their minds. It was then that the whole of Japan had mentally learned to not approach Ogasawara Sachiko when the latter seemed to be busy.

The fifteen minutes break was short and Yumi didn't want to get back to work yet. She wanted to spend a little bit more time with Sachiko since she felt bad that the girl had stayed the night, and had to endure following her around. Even though Sachiko had assured her that she didn't mind, Yumi couldn't set her mind at ease. After a few minutes of coaxing, Yumi had gave in and went to work with such adorable looks in her eyes when she took a dramatic glance at Sachiko, as if the latter would disappear. Once Sachiko situated herself on her chair comfortably, she watched Yumi once more with a smile adorning her face. Not only that her eyes were watching Yumi's movement, the replay of that adorable looks in Yumi's eyes were in her mind as well. If Sachiko had let slipped a small giggle, no one would dare to ask what the heiress had found funny.

Finally, another two hours had ended and Yumi was free from the studio set. However, it didn't mean that Yumi's work had ended there. Unfortunately, the photo processor department wasn't located at the same building. Yumi had to grab Sachiko and pulled her into a run toward her car when they was about to step out of the building. As expected, paparazzi tried to stop the two women. Unfortunately, they didn't go that fast when Sachiko was wearing heels. Then again, the raven hair beauty did very well in heels while she kept up the pace with Yumi whose was wearing a pair of sneakers. When the two women got into the car, Yumi was practically frowning and cursing under her breath at the paparazzi while Sachiko giggling behind her hand. She had never gone out into public eyes (except for that night with Sei) without her bodyguards before. However, she couldn't imagine being alone in public. The heiress was having the most fun of her life with Yumi, and she wouldn't have it any other way. She was being able to be...someone that she had never been before. It felt so natural to be this person, and she admitted that she loved every single moment of this bliss.

Yumi drove for another good fifteen minutes before coming into a park next to another building. This building was small, unlike the previous building but Sachiko didn't mind about that. She was going to be alone with Yumi, in the dark room. Her mind was producing all kind of improper images that involved Yumi, oblivious to the latter's uneasiness. Yumi wasn't sure how long she was going to be in that dark room for. God, she knew that if Sachiko wasn't going to be in there with her then she would have finished in approximately two hours. However, with Sachiko here with her, she'd doubt that she'd be able to concentrate at all. After all it was a dark room, anything could happen especially when she knew that they would be in there alone. The brunette's heart was racing a mile per second, and there was no telling when her face would calm down from its intense redness.

"L-Let's get t-this d-done before w-we h-have to go to t-the d-d-dinner," Yumi quickly stuttered out as she hopped out of her car. Sachiko blinked out of her raging thoughts before following the younger girl. When both of them made it into the dark room, the only light that was emitting from it was the two computer screens. Yumi made her way over it after telling the older girl to close the door behind her. Sachiko did as she was told and watched from where she was standing, her back facing the door, as Yumi made quick with her fingers to punch in her log-in into the computer system. Sachiko then watched in silent as the younger girl worked, her mind seeming to fall back to the thoughts earlier. Now, wouldn't it be a bad idea to interrupt her girlfriend in such a manner? She did have to endure four hours, minus that fifteen minutes break, not being able to hold the girl, much less kiss her. Her 'Yumi Tank' was running low and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to hold her control in anymore.

With a deep intake of breath, she let it all out slowly afterward to calm her nerves. Well, that surely didn't work. It surely didn't calm her racing her on what she was about to do. While Yumi's back was facing her, she didn't even dare to question her sanity on how she knew about it, Sachiko moved quietly over to where Yumi was, wherever that was. Even in the darkness she could clearly see Yumi's form. It was strange, really, when today would mark the sixth day that she had been with the brunette. Yumi, on the other hand, was oblivious to what was going on around her. She was trying her best to concentrate on the photos that she was working out, even though the presence of Sachiko in the room didn't help her one bit. She didn't even hear the heiress' movement until she felt a pair of arms encircling her waist from behind, hot breath tickling at the nape of her neck. The photos that she had been holding dropped flawlessly on the floor as her body shivered in delight. It was only Sachiko's breath on her skin and she already was giving the older girl the reaction that she knew Sachiko wanted. She really couldn't control her body whenever she was with Sachiko, it seemed.

"How long are we going to be in here?" Sachiko breathed out the question in her husky voice. She had felt the shiver from Yumi. She knew exactly what she was doing to the younger girl but she didn't care. She had tossed all of the naggings away from her mind, and right now she was focusing solely on Yumi. The girl that had claimed her heart so effortlessly in less than a week.

"Umm...well...t-two hours at the m-most," Yumi answered, suddenly feeling her throat to be extremely dry. That was to be expected when her body was burning up when Sachiko tightened her grip, the heiress' lips about an inch away from her ear, breathing so fervently against her sensitive skin.

"Can we speed it up a little?" Sachiko asked, her lips lightly brushing against Yumi's ear because of their closeness. Yumi shivered once more and the heiress hid in a smile. "I want to get out of here, as soon as possible," _'and claim you as mine,'_ Sachiko mentally added. Whether it was improper or not, she didn't mind. Lady-like or unlady-like, it didn't even matter.

'_Does she know that she's asking the impossible? She's a huge distraction for crying out loud!'_ Yumi screamed in her mind as she willed body to calm down. After a few minutes, her body started to comply and she couldn't be more than happy at the result. "Sachiko," she whispered softly and after receiving a soft hum in respond, she sighed. "I can't _speed_ things up if I'm being distracted, you know."

Sachiko stilled her movement after receiving the small information. So, how did she get herself in such a position? So those images in her mind had made her to do this. On top of that they had to be meeting her parents in less than four hours. She couldn't possibly have her parents to be waiting on her and Yumi. It wasn't going to make a good first impression, and it would be her fault if her parents disapproved of Yumi because of that. She also knew that she had pretty much lost half of her control to her desire. Yumi was just too alluring to resist, and she didn't even know how she had resisted her last night. Maybe she was too tired to make a move. Maybe Yumi had sensed that it was too fast for them to move to the next step. After all, they hadn't been together for that long. And yet, their hearts felt like they had been connected for an eternity.

Sensing that her girlfriend was having some sort of internal debating, Yumi giggled softly and that didn't even bring her girlfriend back into reality. When Sachiko's grip loosened, she spun herself around and gazed up at the beautiful face of Sachiko. Indeed, the older girl was in an internal debate and she couldn't help but let out a small giggle once again. This time it caught Sachiko's attention and once the taller girl looked down at her, Yumi grinned. The table had somehow turned, much of her luck. She didn't mind being in control, but it felt good to have such control over Sachiko once in a while. Then again she clearly didn't mind to hand over the said control over to Sachiko either.

"So unless you want us to be late for Sayako-Obaa-sama's dinner," Yumi started, her voice turning husky as she spoke while her fingers idly playing with the loose strand of Sachiko's hand, curling it around her fingers before letting it go. "Maybe you could distract me some more."

Sachiko's eyes flew opened wide as the suggestive comment. She knew that her mother would be upset. She also knew that Yumi was teasing her but her mind couldn't process that at the moment. Yumi giggled again when she saw Sachiko's reaction, and to make matter worse or fun to her, she wrapped an arm around Sachiko's neck while her other hand grabbed a hold of Sachiko's loose collar, pulling the girl down to her face level.

"I guess I will take that silence as a yes," Yumi grinned before her lips touched the others. Sachiko wasn't aware of the fact that she had handed the situation over to Yumi. So after a few minutes of responding to Yumi's kiss, she quickly pulled away with a slight jerk when realization dawned on her.

"You minx," Sachiko said playfully with a chuckle. "I can't believe that you could take away my control like that."

Yumi giggled before she placed her head against Sachiko's chest, snuggling into it. "You teased me first, remember?"

Sachiko could only chuckle before she let the girl free. She then went back to where she was standing, watching as Yumi worked. The brunette had already turned around and got back to her work and for that split second, the heiress couldn't help but feel that despite their worlds' differences, they could always find a way to fit themselves in them.

After almost two hours – with Yumi increasing the pace so that they could leave early – Yumi had finished her photos. Now all she had to do was to clip them on the hanger so they would dry when she got back to them tomorrow. She then turned to where Sachiko was, seeing the girl had left her standing position to sit at one of the chairs in the room, she couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty for leaving the girl like that. When she got near to the heiress, her heart went out to the beautiful sleeping face. It looked like Sachiko had fallen asleep from watching her, or trying to since the room was pretty much dark. She took a seat next to the raven hair beauty, gazing at the sleeping face of her beloved with longing in her eyes. She couldn't believe that she was lucky to meet her angel. No, she couldn't believe that the said angel _returned_ her feelings. It was like a dream come true.

After a few moments of watching her, Yumi decided to wake the heiress up. She knew they had about two hours left before they had to attend to that dinner. Once Sachiko had stirred out of her slumber, Yumi smiled as she waited for the latter to fully wake up. After Sachiko had fully awaken, Yumi pulled her out of the dark room and over to her car once more. Since Yumi had no idea what to wear for the dinner tonight, especially when she wanted to leave a good impression on the older Ogasawara, Sachiko had offered to help. Well, two hours before the actual dinner, how was she going to handle the teasing from Sachiko now that she had nothing to focus on? Yumi lightly gulped as she casted a glance over to where the heiress was sitting, her sapphire eyes gazing out the rear mirror. She couldn't tell from that look what Sachiko was thinking about, but she could tell that it wasn't going to be something she'd like to look forward to.


	15. Chapter 15

**[ Chapter 15 ]**

The dinner was tonight. She wasn't sure how her parents viewed Yumi but she was sure that the brunette had left somewhat of an impression on the two elders on her birthday party. After all, not only that Yumi could sing and dance (amazingly good if she may add) the girl could also pull off the gorgeous white gown she had worn that night. She admitted at that moment she felt like she wasn't even in the centre of attention but she was fine with that. However, she also admitted that she wasn't fine with everyone ogling at the brunette that appeared to be magnificent that night. Now she didn't have to worry about the fact that the brunette would reject her, when she had already gotten her to be her girlfriend. She was worrying about her parents' opinions on the one that she loved. In all of her years as being an Ogasawara, she had never been this nervous!

Sachiko wasn't sure what Yumi was thinking about, but during the ride all she could think about was her parents. Even after the ride, she had excused herself to go home to get ready since she didn't bring a change of clothes with her. Yumi had put up quite a fight, though not in a verbal way. The brunette had given her the most adorable pout that she had ever seen, and it was difficult for her to go home when her resolve was being stuck between home and Yumi. After a long moment of inner debate, she reluctantly pulled herself away from that adorable expression and ran off before she would change her mind. And right now, she was sitting on her bed under her dark lacy undergarments while pondering over the possibilities that this dinner might go wrong. Sighing, she decided that if God wanted to punish her for whatever wrongs she had done, then she would take it if he would spare Yumi any kind of humiliation.

Standing from her bed and crossing over to her closet, the heiress started to plan out an outfit for this dinner event. She didn't want to be flashy, and she didn't want to be uncomfortable. After all, this dinner was just like any other dinner that she'd be at with her family, except that Yumi was also joining them. It was only common sense that she wanted to dress up for Yumi, but she didn't want to make it look so obvious to her parents either. It wasn't much of a life crisis, but she knew that in a way...she might as well be in one.

After picking out a casual outfit that consisted of a light sleeveless top with a dark blue sweatshirt to wear over it, and longish creamy dress to wear underneath, she nodded to herself that it was suitable enough for the event tonight. Now all she had to do was to go and pick up Yumi. Smiling to herself in the mirror, something that she rarely did, she left the room and made her way over to the garage. Well she was going to head over to her car but one of the house servants stopped her. Apparently, her mother had already arranged for a car to pick Yumi up. And, apparently, her mother had already informed Yumi about it over the phone not so long ago while she was in her room getting ready. Well, she didn't know that she had wasted so much time in there, obviously.

"Sayako-Ojou-sama and Tooru-sama are waiting for you in the dining room," the servant spoke, bringing Sachiko's attention to her again.

Sachiko nodded before murmuring a thank you toward the servant. With that done, she turned her course and made her way toward the dining room. Once she arrived, her parents were casually sitting at their chairs and at the sound of her arrival, they both brought their eyes up to meet her own. The smiles that were on their lips were making her nervous, and it wasn't for her sake. She was nervous for Yumi's sake, and she felt like something was going to go wrong tonight. After being seated next to her parents, a casual conversation immediately started as they asked her about her work, her friends and of course, everything that was to do about her social life. They left out her love life and she wondered if there was any intention behind it. Her thoughts were interrupted at the announcement of Yumi's arrival. Her sapphire eyes immediately looked over to the brunette longingly, even though they had only been parted for less than four hours. She watched as Yumi walked up to her parents before lowering her head in a respectful bow.

"My name is Fukuzawa Yumi and I am grateful for your dinner invitation, Ogasawara-sama, Sayako-Obaa-sama."

Out from the corner of Sachiko's eyes, she could see her Father's right eye started to twitch.

"You call my wife –Obaa-sama, and you call me Ogasawara-sama, Yumi?" He asked. If Sachiko didn't know better, she would think that her father was displeased and that his anger was building up.

Yumi started to fidget in her place, her head still in a bowing position much to the Ogasawara family amusement. "I...Um..." After a short moment, Yumi finally succumbed to being a little less formal around the most powerful family in Japan. "Tooru-Oji-sama..."

Sachiko watched as her father reached out his hand over to Yumi and patted the girl's head with an amused smile. "Good, now won't you care and sit down," he paused, glancing over at the empty seat beside Sachiko before motioning his head to it. "Next to Sachiko would be fine."

Yumi nodded her head and went to take a seat next to Sachiko. Once she had seated, Sachiko started to internally panic. It felt like it was a joke, but a more serious one. She didn't know what her parents would do. She didn't even know their plan. All she was going to do now was to wait and see what would happen next. The suspense was killing her, but she wasn't going to admit it to anyone in the room.

"So Yumi-chan," Sayako started as she looked over at the younger girl just as their servants were bringing out the meals. "Please tell us more about yourself."

Yumi felt like she was in a job interview the moment the older woman had said that. "I'm a professional photographer. I love to take photos of people smiling, the photos that bring out their best features. In my free time I hang out with my friends, the group that you've seen on the stage at Sachiko's birthday," the brunette was oblivious to the look of amazement from the two older Ogasawara when they noticed that she didn't give their daughter's an honorific. "Even though I got the group together but everything from singing to dancing choreography are done by Hibiki-san and Kanade-san."

"You and your group are very good, I must say," Tooru complimented softly with a nod of his head. "Have you considered signing a contract with an entertainment company?"

Yumi smiled and shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. We have had a lot of companies asking us to join them after seeing our performances in the past, but we declined them." Before Tooru could interject, she quickly continued. "We prefer our casual lifestyle where we don't rely on too much from others, and where others don't rely too much on us. Of course, we will perform for anyone if they'd ask, but we prefer to keep our lives a little less busy and under public eyes. As you can see, my brother; Yuuki, is a CEO of Fukuzawa Company and he has enough press going around. Our other two males in the group; Yuujiro-kun and Toru-kun, have enough of fans coming after them since they are male models. Considering their past, you'd know why they are getting a little bit sick of it," Yumi paused only to giggle at her words before carrying on with the last two members. "Kanade-san and Hibiki-san owned a bakery and instruments stores. Kanade-san loves to bake, and the bakery store was passed down to her by her family. As for Hibiki-san, well...Have you heard of Dan and Jen Hojo?"

The Ogasawara nodded, and Yumi was more than happy to continue on.

"They are her parents."

"Really?" Tooru asked in surprised. Sachiko could only give out a low chuckle at his little outburst. She knew how much her father loved to listen to Jen Hojo playing the violin, and not to mention how he was a fan of Dan Hojo, the conductor.

"Yes, so with the money that they have, Hibiki-san was able to open the instrument store with their help. Hibiki-san is also talented to not only in her singing and dancing, but she can play the piano amazingly well," Yumi sighed, shaking her head in a little disappointment. "If she wanted, she'd be a famous pianist in no time, but since she's too lazy to do such thing she just let the opportunity pass."

"You seem to care a lot about your friends," Tooru commented as he grabbed his utensils, raising them over to the piece of steak that had been placed before him. Tuesday's night, Western style food was always served.

Yumi smiled with an enthusiastic nod. "Yes! They're like my family!"

Sachiko had noticed the small reaction from Yumi to the food that had been placed before her. She wondered why she had caught a small look of distaste, but the thought seemed to wash away when Yumi raised her knife and fork over the steak, cutting it into a small piece before popping the said piece in her mouth. She didn't exactly know why she was so interested in the way that Yumi was chewing on that piece of steak. Not to mention, how she had noticed Yumi's tongue darted out to lick at her upper lip. Suddenly she felt a tad hot in the room, and it wasn't because of the food. The raven-haired beauty quickly revert her eyes from Yumi, and stared blankly at the steak before her. It was unladylike of her to do so, so she raised her utensils and copied what everyone else was doing even though her action looked a little bit robotic.

"Sa-chan, are you alright?" Sayako asked worriedly. If she was amused, Sachiko didn't catch it.

"Yes, I am fine, Mother," Sachiko replied softly before raising a piece of steak to her lips. Once she had popped it in her mouth, her eyes flickered over to Yumi once more and in an instant, their eyes locked together. The latter blushed, to her luck, and had quickly looked away, to her amusement. Of course she had felt a tiny bit of heat rising on her cheeks, but after seeing Yumi's reaction, her amusement had won over.

They ate the food in comfortable silence, Sayako had only popped a few questions every now and then toward Yumi and Sachiko when she felt like it had gotten to quiet. Once they had finished their meals, the servants came to collect the empty plates and had asked if they wanted desserts. While Sachiko and Yumi politely declined, the other two Ogasawaras couldn't help but accepted the offer. After all, they weren't going to be young for long.

"Now that we have gotten a little comfortable with one another," Tooru began as he looked over at Yumi expectantly. "How do you suppose to keep our daughter happy? As you must know, she is the only daughter of the Ogasawara, and," he narrowed his eyes. "The only heir to the Ogasawara family."

Sachiko quickly turned to look at her father, her expression in shock. She wasn't expecting this at all. When she opened her mouth to make some form of protest, Tooru had raised his hand in her direction, effectively silenced her without a single word. She then turned to look at Yumi, expression apologetic but Yumi just smiled kindly at her before returning her gaze to the man of the family.

"I don't have much to offer, money-wise that is. However, I do have my heart, and I will offer it to her without much of a second thought. If it is necessary I would lay down my life for her. I know that I haven't met her for long, but I do know that I'm unconditionally and irrevocably in love with her."

The little speech that Yumi had given stunned both the older Ogasawaras, and had made Sachiko blushed ten shades of pink. The Ogasawara residents didn't expect this, at all. Sachiko didn't even know how to respond to that. So while the Ogasawaras just stared at her in utter shock and surprise, Yumi was getting slightly uncomfortable. She had no idea that she would receive such a reaction from her answer. She didn't even know that it would render all three Ogasawaras speechless. Maybe she had done it wrong. Maybe she had said it wrong. Maybe it was too fast for her to confess her feelings for the raven-haired beauty when they had barely been with one another for a week. Yes, too fast, indeed.

"I –" Yumi opened her mouth to speak but was immediately cut off by Tooru as he raised his hand.

"Let's just finish our meals, shall we?" He asked, smiling kindly at her.

Yumi nodded and went back to her meal. Occasionally, during the meal, she would steal a quick glance over at Sachiko. To her dismay, the taller girl didn't look like she was happy. No, the taller girl seemed to be deep in thought, and she wondered what Sachiko was thinking. On the other hand, Sachiko was trying to think of a way to actually respond to Yumi's sweet little speech that had blown her mind. She had never received such words from anyone. So to receive it from the girl that she was proud to call her girlfriend was beyond out of her mind. And it also looked like that her parents even approved of their relationship, if their happy smiles said anything regarding to Yumi's speech earlier.

Sachiko had had enough of her meal after a short moment. So she sat back, dabbed a napkin over her lips to rid of the small crumbs that gathered themselves there, and looked over at her parents that were regarding her with confusion in their eyes. She wanted some time to think. Yumi's confession surprised her just a little too much. She needed some time to compose herself. Yumi's confession wanted to make her to reach out and kiss her for all that she was worth right in front of her parents' eyes.

"My apologies, Father, Mother, but I want to take a short walk." With that said, Sachiko stood from her chair and retreated out of the dining room. She gave Yumi a reassuring smile before she disappeared behind those doors. She didn't want her cute girlfriend to worry about her.

After leaving the dining room, she leaned against the door to release a huge sigh that she didn't know she was holding. Yumi's confession, that was a lot to process. She shook her head of any misguided thoughts and lifted herself off of the door, and walked out of the house to move into the Ogasawara garden. She then began to think about her relationship with Yumi. She had to admit that Yumi had a lot of experience when it came down to being in a relationship. Yumi would have to be the only person that she was to be involved with, ever. Suguru didn't really count when there was no romantic love there other than cousin-love. So how was she to feel about Yumi's sudden confession? How was she going to respond to that? Her heart longed for Yumi; that was for certain. But she didn't know if it was out of the fact that the girl drew her in at first sight, or it was the fact that Yumi was someone real. Someone that could make her feel normal. Someone that she felt completely herself when she was around the younger girl. So, was she using the pigtailed girl or was she really in love with her?

Sachiko stopped in the middle of the flower garden that she had helped her mother took care of. She lifted her face, her sapphire eyes greeted the starless sky. The moon was shining, but dully. She just couldn't explain this feeling that she was having. Yes, she was truly happy with Yumi. And yes, she loved the girl but how long was that love going to last? Conflicted emotions were something that she could not deal with.

"Oh, Maria-sama, please guide me through the right path."

* * *

_Author Note - _

I apologize for the very late update. I've been involved in this tumblr roleplay y'see. And like I've taken on so many muses that now my muses are all over the place. And I'm easily distracted. But I promise you that this story will meet an ending. A very good ending indeed. :3


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